Update on New Channels

Update (9/16): The remaining items on our to-do list for new channels have been taken care of (with a few remaining bugs expected to be fixed in the next two weeks), so we're planning on switching all user channels still using the older version on September 30 and all partners on October 14. To read about the fixes and improvements that have been made, hop on over to the Channels Beta Blog.

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Update (7/11): We want to give you a heads up that we're changing the day on which we'll move all remaining channels over to the new version. Why? Well, July 15 is almost here, and we realized that we still have a few bugs and things left on the to-do list.

Specifically, here's what we plan to do before we roll the new version out to all remaining channels:

• Add transparency (now done)
  
• Fix some browser-specific layout bugs - in particular, IE6 has a few issues right now
• Allow you to default your channel to "grid" view
• Allow you to re-order your uploads & playlists
  
• Fixes for some of the other bugs you've helped find (such as grid view not always working in IE), and other small things
  

So when's the new date? That part's a little trickier, and rather than try to predict it, we'd rather focus our time on taking care of the above list. But we'll announce the new date no less than two weeks before it happens - and yes, it's still coming this summer. Keep an eye out here or on our beta blog. Thanks!

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It's been a week since we announced that a new version of channels is coming, and we wanted to give you an update on our progress. Well over a million of you have now opted in to the beta, and many of your channels are looking really good -- we were just admiring shotscience's and muzik4machines's designs.

Your feedback over the past two months has shaped -- and will continue to shape -- the evolution of this whole site and particularly your channels. We've been hard at work fixing some of the bugs you've pointed out, as well as taking care of some of your top requests. For instance, we're happy to announce that we'll be supporting transparency so that your backgrounds can indeed shine through -- this will be done prior to switching over to the new channel design. And some of the bugs we've taken care of now include reducing the occasional sluggishness that some users have reported, as well as fixing the scrollbar that broke for some when ads appear. (For a longer list of fixes and additions, go to our beta blog.) We'll share more of our progress later, too.

As always, you can learn more about how to switch to the new version of channels by visiting our Help Center, where we also have some tips on setting things up. We also encourage you to continue pointing out bugs in the beta and letting us know how we can improve. Best places to comment are below in this blog, in our beta blog or in the comment portion of our announcement video.

Posted by Brian Glick, Product Manager