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YouTube Better Startpage

By Nemo 64 — Last update Apr 11, 2013 — Installed 53,427 times.

Script Summary: Gets the old order of subscriptions on the YouTube start page back.



Version: 2013.4-1

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Features

It replaces the new start page of YouTube with one it generates on it's own which has the same style of showing your subscriptions as the old start page of YouTube had.

Because it builds all by itself it is much less influenced by YouTube partner program and all video's will be shown. It even shows playlists in the overview.

If that is not enough it has also some features that are normally only accessible through other userscripts like hiding seen videos or marking them as seen. And if you want to see more of an subscription you can simply see more thumbs by clicking a button.

Something i might add: This script is network and CPU intensive. If you have a huge amount of subscriptions it might lag. I don't want to prefer a browser or anything but you get the best user experience at the moment only in google chrome/chromium. Trust me: I'm working on the performance.

Troubleshooting

Script not working? Try these few steps:
  • Check if you are logged in!
  • Do you have the newest script version? Try installing it again if you are not sure!
  • Do you have the script installed twice? This happens sometimes, remove both and install it again.
  • Is you YouTube url one of those: /, /home, /guide
  • Is your browser up-to-date?
  • Also try deleting cookies on YouTube
Still not working? Ok, If you want to help me check if someone else already has that problem in the Discussions or create a new Discussion and give me the following information's:
  • Your browser, version and os
  • The exact url to your startpage
  • YouTube experiments you participate in
  • Other scripts that may change YouTube
  • Errors you have in your js console (press STRG+SHIFT+J, reload the page and than copy everything)
  • Also tell me what exactly doesn't work. Does the script nothing or is the page just empty? For design errors please include a screenshot.

Feedback

If you miss something in this script, there is something called "Discussions" here. Open a new one for each suggestion and tell me. I don't bite... that much.

If you are a JavaScript or even a User-script developer you might be interested in the GitHub Repository. There you can pick up early development versions and also fork it an fix bugs yourself if you can. ;)

Works On

  • Firefox with the extension Greasemonkey
  • Google Chrome (also Chromium etc.) with the extension Tampermonkey. There are also ways to install it without another extension but those are harder to explain.
  • Opera You can read here how and note that opera can be slower on YouTubes start page with this script installed.

It is very likely that it works on other Browsers that in some bizarre way can execute userscripts. For example Safari is known to work but I only test the browser above.

Other Scripts you might wanna try

I don't know why YouTube made it so complicated to navigate. The spawn of other scripts that try to get some user friendlieness back proof my statement. I for myself use some other userscripts from great authors. Here are (i think) the best:

  • YousableTubeFix for Firefox/Chrome/Opera This script enhances the watch page with download, resize... You know what? Just look at the feature list.
  • startpage inbox puts a little box on the right top of the startpage and tells you if someone answered to/wrote you something. Also I now take care that it doesn't break in combination with mine. ;)

Changelog

2012.5-1
  • Recode. Look at discussion!
2012.5-2
  • already seen now works automatically again!
2012.5-3
  • included YouTubes recommendation sidebar
  • added [show more thumbs]
  • thumbnails don't blink anymore
2012.5-4
  • now loads faster
  • doesn't even try to use greasemonkey functions anymore. (problems with some other user-script implementations)
2012.5-5
  • needs less cpu power
  • empty subscriptions will now be hidden (there is an option to show them again)
  • dark YouTube themes will be detected and the script will change the style to match it.
2012.5-6
  • fixed a typo that causes firefox to... well... not work <.< (but for some reason not chrome)
2012.5-7
  • YouTube changes sometimes there startpage url from / to /guide. (does somebody know why?)
2012.5-8
  • Again mayor speedups and code cleanup (but I'm not done yet)
  • Added watch later
  • The sidebar is now optional and can be hidden.
2012.6-1
  • performance tweaks
  • subscriptions now only get updated if they are near the visible area of the browser. (the sorting isn't affected)
  • little design fix
2012.7-1
  • Now works with YouTubes new layout.
2012.7-2
  • Many fixes with loosing seen and removed data.
  • Using multiple accounts is now basically possible, but there will be more improvement.
2012.7-3
  • Buttons are now over the native startpage again.
2012.9-1
  • Now with backup system.
2012.9-2
  • Some tweaks
  • Better Backup description.
2012.9-3
  • Added: hide seen Videos
  • Some tweaks with the save file.
  • Fixed inView behavior (loading of subscriptions) if the size of the list changes
  • Fixed error sign in watch later icon
  • Fixed across tab communication.
2012.9-4
  • Show seen button for every sub if the hide seen feature is active.
2012.10-1
  • Better support for the not yet fully released YouTube design.
  • If sorting is now not checked the videos will still be sorted after name.
2012.12-1
  • Better support for the not yet fully released YouTube design… again
2013.1-2
  • New design so it fits into YouTube's design.
2013.1-2-fix1
  • Made a dark style again for users of a black YouTube theme.
2013.1-3
  • Mayor performance tweak (1.5 – 7 times faster in firefox)
  • Little design tweak!
2013.4-1
  • Fixed "url not found"