UW News

October 14, 2010

‘A Cleaner YouTube’: Pretty good for two hours’ work



First there was MySpace. Then Facebook came along, offering a simplified alternative. The UW’s Jody Tate had a similar idea regarding YouTube. Finding it cluttered and unattractive, he developed a Safari extension, a straightforward version of the wildly successful video site.


“YouTube is not pretty to me,” said Tate, UW information technology interface designer. “I thought just for myself, could I turn off everything else and just see the video?” Tate talked about his project on a recent Friday afternoon at the Burke Cafe on campus.


He developed the extension, which he called A Cleaner YouTube, in July.


“The YouTube link was done in my spare time; it took me like two hours to do. I was surprised at how easy it was,” said Tate, as he sipped his coffee.


His YouTube extension essentially makes the site look like the Google search- engine home page. A Cleaner YouTube removes the favorites, advertisements and related videos. The big surprise was having Apple interested; Tate had no idea this would happen.


“My friend recommended I send it in to Apple,” he said. “I didn’t think it would get on their radar. About a month later, I got an e-mail, and a week after, a phone call. And I was pretty surprised by that.”


In late July, A Cleaner YouTube was featured in Apple’s extension gallery. It has also been mentioned in Wired magazine and online publications including Digital Trends, Macworld and The Unofficial Apple Weblog.


“Since then it’s had a little over 250,000 installations. Again, for two hours of work it has surprised me,” said Tate.


While the simplified YouTube extension is popular, some features of the original site were missed.


“I was surprised that I had lots of people ask me to add a comment link and favorites. Figuring out a way to insert the comments — again, that took about 30 minutes,” said Tate.


What is next for him?


“What I want to do now is create a Cleaner Amazon extension. Amazon is sort of the Wal-Mart of web pages, but I know why they’re doing it, they want to put a lot of stuff in your face,” said Tate.


Tate is developing A Cleaner Amazon extension, but will need to make sure it won’t interfere with the money transaction process before he releases it.


“It’s not as hard to do as I thought, and it’s also fun to see if I can pull it off,” said Tate.


In addition to A Cleaner YouTube, Tate has a few projects going.


“I’ve designed one website for a friend and for a nonprofit. That’s why I have a consulting website for people to contact me. But I really hardly do any outside consulting,” he said.


Essentially, Tate enjoys challenging himself. All of his independent endeavors are not for profit and are for his own enrichment. But it just so happens that his hobbies benefit a multitude of people.