Footytube 2.0

Some of you might have remember that I mentioned the footytube 2.0 beta a while back. Yesterday I got a very nice email from Lee over at footytube, inviting me to take the new version for a test run:

Heya,

A little while ago you signed up to the footytube 2.0 Private Beta.

We are delighted to announce that the beta is now ready, and we would be chuffed to bits if you wanted to come in and be amongst the first people to give it a spin.

I think footytube 2.0 was originally set to launch in November if I remember correctly, the message about the new platform has certainly been up there for a while now. Hopefully it means that they’ve not experienced serious complications, but that they’ve considered and tweaked forth and back for the best possible result.

I’ll have to say that I’m really impressed with the new platform and design at first glance. I haven’t had much time to try out the arsenal of functionality, but it looks beautiful! The first you’re met with is a video grid or ‘Zeitgeist’ which shows what footytube users fancy today. It seems that most functionality is driven by Ajax, something that makes the site clean, fast and easy to navigate. Footytube also seem to have glanced one or two times at YouTube (surprise surprise), ‘borrowing’ not only fractions of the name but also certain functionality. The mandatory widget with related, channels and popular videos are all there, what’s more surprising is perhaps the new added features (very cool!) such as the ‘community opinion on team performance’ and ‘nominate a goal for goal of the week’.

Focused on user interaction, easy navigation, and speed – I’ve no doubt that the new footytube will be a big success. A much cleaner layout and design will definitely help. All the best!