Netflix has overhauled its website's layout, creating a unified interface that had previously been lacking with its last design, which had a separate layout for DVD browsing and Watch Instantly browsing. Users on Twitter reported receiving the layout as long ago as Thursday.
The new layout features a streamlined header that now exists across all pages; previously the header only existed when browsing Watch Instantly sections. The header itself has also been modified to include larger text and simplified categories ("Watch Instantly," "Just for Kids," "Your Queue," "Taste Profile" and "DVDs") that feature drop-down listings of sub-categories.
Last month the Los Angeles Times reported a similar layout was being tested with a small number of the service's users, albeit with Watch Instantly being separated into separate categories for television shows and movies. It's unclear if the layout seen above is merely in testing as well or whether it will be rolled out to all Netflix users. The company has yet to release any statements regarding the new layout.
Netflix's last major overhaul of its website's layout was around this time last year; that overhaul was primarily a redesign of the Watch Instantly section. Last year's redesign was quickly met with a backlash from Netflix users, although the company stood by the then-new layout. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly shortly after last year's redesign launched, Steve Swasey, vice president of corporate communications for Netflix, said pre-launch testing showed users preferred the redesign.
"Most of [the comments] have the same theme, which is 'what was wrong with before?'" he said. "What we're saying is we've tested this extensively, we know the vast, vast majority of people like this. It's new, it's easier, it's cleaner."
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