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YouTube tweaks video player with transparent control panel

YouTube is rolling out a small, but welcome change to its online video player.

The company has ditched the classic black playback bar beneath videos in favour of a transparent control panel that overlays the action.

YouTube’s slick design revamp also applies to playback settings relating to speed, video quality, annotations and autoplay. All in all, it’s a much more attractive solution.

The new control panel disappears after a couple of seconds of inactivity and returns when the user hovers over the player with the cursor

While it’s not a huge change, the new player will also save a little bit of space on the page.

YouTube has yet to officially comment, but did confirm the new player is rolling out globally (via The Next Web).

It’s been a week of welcome changes on YouTube with Google finally relenting and unbundling the service from Google+.

You can see the new player below if you fancy checking out The Force Awakens trailer… again.

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