More and more of us are watching our films and TV shows online these days, and Netflix is one of the pioneers in streaming media. The latest figures indicate that their revenue is $5.50 billion, while its market value stands at $32.9 billion. Despite the explosion of popularity in its services, Netflix has been slow to update their actual web design, until now. This month, they finally unleashed their first design revamp in four years.
Gone are the old features that have often frustrated customers, particularly the old carousel-style design from which users previously chose their digital media. The old slow carousel has been dumped in favour of a slideshow where users can see five titles at a time, making browsing much faster and more efficient.
When users click on their chosen title, they now receive a number of additional details, including recommendations of similar titles. By simply hovering over the selection, users can see the star rating of the show, the number of seasons currently available to watch, and a brief synopsis of the show or movie. The web design update applies to all platforms used for Netflix viewing, including tablets, smartphones and other mobile devices. This again highlights the importance of responsive website design for businesses that want to achieve online success.
Unveiled after a testing period, this design is proving to be popular with users. The layout is largely similar to the old design, but makes key changes where they were needed the most. Aside from the slideshow, the changes are minimal but have contributed towards a much cleaner and more professional appearance. The background has changed from white to black, and there are a few typographical changes.
The global rollout of the new design is ongoing, and most customers should already be seeing it or will see it soon. The overall experience is a lot smoother than it was, and this signals a welcome upgrade to the design of the popular website. The design is more immersive, quicker, and represents the heart of what good web design should be about: keeping the basic structure that users are used to whilst making necessary changes.