Late last week, Hulu started rolling out a redesign for its TV apps, which changes the way you navigate the interface. The older version (which some people still have) had Search, Home, TV, Movies, News, My Stuff, and Hubs buttons at the top of the screen. Now, those navigation buttons will live on the left.
Hulu’s top bar design has always stood out from the crowd in a bad way. Even my wife, who isn’t that into technology and usually doesn’t comment on user interfaces, has complained about it. The problem with the old UI is that typically using a streaming app these days involves scrolling up and down through a massive list of content, realizing you don’t want to watch any of it, and then skip to another section.
Unfortunately, the Hulu categories at the top of the screen make it seem like you have to scroll back through everything you just watched to do that. You didn’t actually have to, at least not on the Apple TV version of the app I’ve used; pressing the back button would take you to the top. But if you didn’t realize that, it could be frustrating to use. However, the redesign makes it easy to understand: scroll to the left (or press the back button) and the menu will appear.
Yes, this redesign makes the Hulu app more like almost any other streaming app out there; HBO Max, Netflix, YouTube, and even Disney Plus, which is owned by the same company as Hulu, use a sidebar layout. But sometimes it’s good to have conventions; With the redesign, you won’t have to think about how to navigate when switching from another streaming app to Hulu.
According to a splash screen alerting users to the upcoming change, the new interface will roll out in the coming weeks. According TechCrunchIt will be coming to smart TV interfaces like Android TV, LG Smart TVs, Samsung Smart TVs, and Vizio SmartCast TVs, as well as streaming boxes like Fire TV, Apple TV, Roku, and Chromecast.
