Netflix Updates Its Site, Adds More Audio Description To Titles

Netflix has made some improvements to its website and library of titles. The streaming platform updated its website to work with more mobile-friendly devices, and improved its audio description selection and search functions.

One of the newest features of the revamped website is easier title browsing and selection. Netflix subscribers will no longer have to deal with the rotating, carousel-displayed titles anymore. Instead, TV shows and movies show up in one row, which is entirely swapped out with new selections once a user clicks the next arrow.

Additionally, Netflix has made viewing a specific title less complicated. The web platform used to automatically start playing a title once users clicked on it; if viewers only wanted to see that title’s information, they’d have to hover over the title without clicking. In the updated site, hovering over a title displays a summary and screenshots, and clicking a title opens up a new inline pane (without playing the title) where users can read further information and view more episodes (if applicable).

According to a Netflix blog post, the platform’s site hasn’t been upgraded in over four years. Netflix noted how not only web browsers have changed, but so have the viewing preferences of Netflix customers, who tend to use mobile and tablet devices to watch their favorite TV shows and movies. So the platform developed its new site so viewers can use either a touchpad, mouse, or touchscreen to navigate.

“With the new Netflix website, we’ve created a richer, more visual experience, and a website that works more like an app and less like a series of linked web pages,” wrote Netflix’s Director of Product Innovation Cameron Johnson. “Information appears in-line and in context rather than on a separate page, which makes exploring the catalog faster than ever before.”

Netflix also announced more titles now boast audio descriptions. This feature, introduced back in April to help make watching movies and TV easier for the visually-impaired, is a narrative track which explains what’s happening on screen. Netflix users can now watch both original and non-original titles (such as Orange Is the New Black, House of Cards, and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire) with an enabled audio description in English.

More titles will boast audio descriptions in the near future, with Bloodline’s audio description arriving later this month. Netflix’s upcoming Narcos will be the first title on the platform to have a Spanish-narrated audio description. Netflix users will be able to find all audio description-enabled titles in a new search gallery.

Netflix said its new site will roll out to all members over the next two weeks. Users with older browsers will need to update to the latest version before they can use the new Netflix site.