Redirect Shorts to default player

[Harry-Dang]

⚬ PROBLEM: The Shorts player (/shorts/id) has poor UX, especially when compared to the default player (/watch?v=id). You cannot adjust the volume, scrub through the video, etc. People dislike the Shorts player because it is different from the default player

⚬ SOLUTION:
Add an option to automatically redirect from the Shorts player to the default player

⚬ ALTERNATIVES: Add a volume slider and the ability to scrub through the Short on the Shorts player

⚬ RELEVANCE / SCOPE: People generally dislike Shorts. If the player uses the default player, more people may want to watch Shorts more often

⚬ "SIDE EFFECTS":
People who generally dislike Shorts as a whole or do not mind the Shorts player may be annoyed by this feature

⚬ CONTEXT: If this is a feature that people are interested in, I would be interested in implementing it

SHORT Table	(Summary)
Problem	The Shorts player has poor UX
Solution	Redirect Shorts to the default player
Alternatives	Add more functionality to the Shorts player
Scope	People dislike Shorts, by having it closer to the usual UX, people may watch more Shorts
Side effects	People who dislike Shorts or do not mind Shorts may dislike this feature
Context

[sapondanaisriwan]

function redirectToWatchPage() {
  const { origin, pathname } = location;
  const isShorts = pathname.startsWith("/shorts/");
  const newURL = `${origin}${pathname.replace("shorts", "watch")}`;
  isShorts && location.replace(newURL);
}
 
function run() {
  redirectToWatchPage();
  document.addEventListener("yt-navigate-start", redirectToWatchPage);
}

[raszpl]

yesss personally I use this userscript

  document.addEventListener('DOMSubtreeModified', function (e){
.....
    } else if (event.target.tagName && (event.target.tagName == 'YT-HORIZONTAL-LIST-RENDERER' || event.target.tagName == 'YTD-SECTION-LIST-RENDERER'
                                        || event.target.tagName == 'YTD-ITEM-SECTION-RENDERER' || event.target.tagName == 'YTD-THUMBNAIL')
               && event.target.querySelector('.ytd-thumbnail a[href^="/shorts/"], .ytd-reel-item-renderer a[href^="/shorts/"], .ytd-compact-video-renderer a[href^="/shorts/"], ytd-grid-video-renderer a[href^="/shorts/"]')) {
      Array.from( event.target.querySelectorAll('a[href^="/shorts/"]')).forEach(el => {
        el.href=el.href.replace('/shorts/','/watch?v=')
      })
    }

to overwrite shorts links instead of redirecting after the fact

[Termuellinator]

I use https://github.com/einaregilsson/Redirector for that - but in general i'd say there probably are enough users that would only need it for YT-shorts to warrant implementing it here :+1:

[shivam-puri]

Hey is this issue still open? Can i work on it??

[Harry-Dang]

I'm going to start working on this issue now.

I was wondering if anyone has any opinions on whether it should be redirecting from Shorts or overwriting Shorts links? The latter would probably have a smoother experience, but it won't work if you click on a Shorts link from outside of Youtube such as Discord

My plan is to implement both as separate switches so the user can decide which they prefer

[ImprovedTube]

1. https://github.com/doma-itachi/Youtube-shorts-block MIT license & 50 000+ users👍
   @doma-itachi join us?😳☀️

#1383 #1146 (#1168 #1389 #1391)

---

2. hiding shorts everywhere: https://github.com/ProbablyRaging/hide-youtube-shorts
   (store version requires browser history access...?)

3. hiding shorts on the homepage: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/no-youtube-shorts/hjfkenebldkfgibelglepinlabpjfbll

---

https://github.com/code-charity/youtube/issues/1233#issuecomment-1140619890

[KaKi87]

All issues pretaining to this matter are now closed. What's going on ? Thanks

[ImprovedTube]

2. hiding shorts everywhere: https://github.com/ProbablyRaging/hide-youtube-shorts
   (store version requires browser history access...?)

3. hiding shorts on the homepage: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/no-youtube-shorts/hjfkenebldkfgibelglepinlabpjfbll

Time to tag @benlad @ProbablyRaging too 👋 since we long started implementing such independently, further inflating maintenance among the sum of us volunteers. Check #1881 for some: "If we work on this at all, lets work together"

[ImprovedTube]

hi @ProbablyRaging! :) oh no, i didnt see it is archived already (Imagine how many times i have experienced this over the years)

[ImprovedTube]

I disagree with link modification ... externally shared links .. global ... memory .. A LOT

hi! @codefaux edit / just consolidating the threads(@raszpl )

For URL Forwarding:
We can / could ..:

Observe navigation: navigation.addEventListener('navigate', () => { ... });

• ( doesnt work in Firefox & Safari yet ( caniuse.com )

---

Observe changes to document.location.href ( #2276 )

---

Run forwarding through Browser API (in a "background.js" / "worker.js"): declarativeNetRequest like adblockers ( while onBeforeRequest is restricted & manifest3 is enforced )

• Alternative tabs' API: onUpdated & chrome.tabs.update

---

** Run an content script** only for youtube.com/shorts

• This should consume fewer cpu cycles than a user script. (Besides I don't know how the Userscript managers do it)

chrome.storage.local.get('no_shorts_player', function (result) {    if (result.no_shorts_player === true) {  
...redirect... (no need to window.stop;) 
}});    

& in manifest.json:

"content_scripts": [
  { "......" }
  { "js": [	"js&css/extension/www.youtube.com/redirectshorts.js"],
	"matches": [	"https://www.youtube.com/shorts"],
	"run_at": "document_start"
 }

Compare: https://github.com/ynshung/better-yt-shorts