Split View for YouTube

Watch the video and read the comments at the same time. Split View turns the YouTube watch page into panes that scroll on their own, so the video stays put while you read comments or browse suggestions. No more losing the video off the top of the page. Two Layouts Comments Below puts the video top left, the description and comments in a pane beneath it, and the suggestions down the right hand side. Comments Right, the default, puts the video top left, its title, channel and description beneath it beside the suggestions, and the comments alone down the right hand side. The suggestions show as a list that fills the space, or as a strip of large cards. The details can sit above the suggestions instead, if you prefer. Show Only What You Want Hide the comments, hide the suggestions, or hide both and just watch. Whatever is left grows to fill the space. A button just under the video shows or hides the title. You can also hide Shorts from the suggestions, and have each video's description open in full. Whatever you change on the page, the menu always matches. Transcript Beside the Video Press Show Transcript, beside the search box or in the menu, and every video that has one opens YouTube's own transcript beside the suggestions, following along as the video plays. Drag the line between them to give either more room; the split is remembered. Hide Transcript, or YouTube's own X, turns it off again, and the menu always matches what you see. Sized the Way You Like Drag the dividers to resize: under the video, beside it, and between the details and the suggestions. The video pane is locked to the shape of the video itself, so you never get black bars down the sides, and it will not shrink so far that it becomes unusable. Your sizes are remembered. Stays Out of the Way Split View switches itself off in theatre mode, in fullscreen, and on windows too narrow for YouTube's own two column layout, then comes back on its own. When it updates, the new version arrives in your open YouTube tabs without a refresh. Turn Off the Lights One press of Lights Off, beside Show Transcript at the top, dims everything but the video. Click anywhere on the dark to turn the lights back on. Keyboard Shortcuts Alt+Shift+S turns Split View on and off, Alt+Shift+L swaps the layout, and Alt+Shift+C and Alt+Shift+R show or hide the comments and the suggestions. Give the transcript, the details, the title and the lights keys of your own on the browser's shortcuts page, one click from the menu. Pause in Background Tabs An optional setting, off to begin with, pauses the video when you switch to another tab or minimise the window, and starts it again when you come back. Away for more than 10 minutes and it waits for you to press play instead. It goes by whether the tab is showing, not by which window you are working in, so a video you can still see on another screen keeps playing. Leave it off if you listen to video podcasts in the background. Private by Design No accounts, no tracking, no analytics. The extension contains no network code at all. It asks for two permissions: storage, to remember your settings, and scripting, so an update can reach the YouTube tabs you already have open.