Blocking YouTube Features
This is a quick PSA to let you know about a neat feature uBlock Origin (uBO) has that you can implement right now if you’re trying to cut down on your YouTube consumption.
For those that don’t know, “uBlock Origin is not an ‘ad blocker,’ it’s a wide-spectrum content blocker with CPU and memory efficiency as a primary feature.” It works in your browser.
By the way, if you’re not using an ad blocker when surfing the web, you should be. The FBI “Cyber Criminals Impersonating Brands Using Search Engine Advertisement Services to Defraud Users” even recommends you use one. I think uBO is the most popular one and the one everyone recommends. Other ad blockers may exist.
With uBO, you can block YouTube Shorts from your recommended and subscribed feeds, and you can get rid of the Shorts button on the sidebar. It’s important to note this doesn’t stop you from being able to watch shorts, it just stops you from seeing them.
You can also go further by hiding the recommended videos on the right side of the screen when watching a video, hiding the Ask, Download, Clip, Subscribe, Like/Dislike, Save, etc. buttons below a video, debloating the search page and search results, and more.
The uBO subreddit has pages dedicated for YouTube, Twitch, and Twitter, mix and match to your liking uBO Reddit:
Of course, don't just copy/paste commands into your "My filters" list without reading what they do.
Below are the ones I use:
! Explore more topics
youtube.com##ytd-chips-shelf-with-video-shelf-renderer
! Hide Shorts shelf on the homepage
youtube.com##ytd-rich-section-renderer:has(#title-text:has-text(Shorts))
! Hide Shorts from the sidebar menu
youtube.com##ytd-guide-entry-renderer:has-text(Shorts)
! Hide YouTube recommendations on sidebar
www.youtube.com##ytd-watch-next-secondary-results-renderer
! Center videos with no playlist
www.youtube.com###secondary.ytd-watch-flexy:has(>#secondary-inner>#chat-container>:only-child):has(>#secondary-inner>#playlist[hidden])
! YT - Below the Player Buttons - Ask
www.youtube.com###top-row.ytd-watch-metadata yt-button-view-model:has([aria-label="Ask"])
! YT - Below the Player Buttons - Download
www.youtube.com###top-row.ytd-watch-metadata ytd-download-button-renderer
! YT - Below the Player Buttons - Clip
www.youtube.com###top-row.ytd-watch-metadata yt-button-view-model:has([aria-label="Clip"])
If you want to change how many videos show per row, you can use these commands, taken from this Reddit link (I currently use this, so it works):
! YouTube 5 Videos Per Row Fix (Home and Channel Pages)
youtube.com##ytd-rich-grid-row:style(display:contents !important;)
youtube.com###contents.ytd-rich-grid-row:style(display:contents !important;)
youtube.com##ytd-rich-grid-renderer:style(--ytd-rich-grid-items-per-row: 5 !important;)
! YouTube 5 Videos Per Row Fix (Channel Page margin fix)
youtube.com##ytd-rich-item-renderer:style(margin-right: calc(var(--ytd-rich-grid-item-margin)/2) !important; margin-left: calc(var(--ytd-rich-grid-item-margin)/2) !important;)
! YouTube 5 Videos Per Row Fix (Font Size fix)
youtube.com###video-title.ytd-rich-grid-media:style(font-size: 1.4rem !important; line-height: 2rem !important;)
youtube.com###metadata-line.ytd-video-meta-block:style(font-size: 1.2rem !important; line-height: 1.8rem !important;)
youtube.com###video-title.ytd-rich-grid-slim-media:style(font-size: 1.4rem !important; line-height: 2rem !important;)
Hope this helps you!