Netflix’s Upgraded Website Goes Live

Netflix officially announced the launch of its new website today, designed to offer viewers a “richer, more visual experience,” featuring speed improvements, better animations, and an overall more immersive experience that’s more like an app than a series of “linked web pages,” the company says. The website has been in testing for some time — in fact, Netflix told us last month that it would roll out the changes to all customers starting in June.

The upgrade is the first major improvement to the Netflix website the company has introduced in the past four years.

One of users’ major complaints is being addressed with the changes — the slower, scrolling carousels for content discovery the site featured before have been replaced with a faster interface. Now when you mouse-click to advance through the titles’ thumbnails (which have also shifted from vertical, movie-like posters to horizontal cards), you’ll advance a full row at a time.

The site is also touch-friendly, meaning those who are browsing on mobile devices can tap to play content, view details about a movie or show, or swipe to scroll instead of click.

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The individual pages for shows and movies have had a makeover, too. On the new site, when you click on a title or a synopsis, the details appear inline, and you can click to browse more episodes, read details or reviews. You can also explore similar titles through a new “More Like This” link at the bottom of the page, or even be directed to titles from the same cast, genre, or mood, says Netflix.

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The site has improved its visual content, as well. For instance, when you hover your mouse over a title, you’ll see a slideshow of images from the show or the movie, which Netflix hopes will give users a better feel for what the film or program is about, versus reading a description alone.

Overall, the new design is more immersive and presents more information to customers, while also making it easier to move through the catalog while looking for things to watch or add to your list.

Notably, the new website now better resembles Netflix’s app interface on televisions. Presenting a streamlined interface to customers even as they switch between platforms is something that’s been important to the company. Earlier this year, for example, Netflix introduced a “Recommended TV” program which gave TV manufacturers guidelines on how to create a good Netflix experience. It only makes sense that the company would want to do the same for its users on its own website, too.

The global rollout will complete in two weeks.