Short-form videos are now dominating all of the major platforms with giants such as TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram pioneering. It’s no surprise then that YouTube has got in on the act with YouTube Shorts.
What Is YouTube Shorts?
Shorts is a new short-form video experience (up to 60 seconds in length) for creators and artists who want to shoot short, catchy videos using nothing but their mobile phones. These can also be displayed on your main Youtube channel as well as your Shorts homepage. There’s also a Shorts camera designed to make it easy to create videos and it lets you add music from a selection of free songs. You can also set the video speed, set a countdown timer and capture multiple clips for one video. There is a time limit of 15 seconds with the Shorts Camera and this is recommended as the most popular length of a video.
How to Create On YouTube Shorts
To create a short video on YouTube:
Sign in to YouTube on mobile.
Tap Create.
Tap Create a Short.
To record a clip, tap and hold the capture button or tap it to start recording and tap it again to end the segment.
Tap Undo white x over grey backwards-pointing pentagon to remove the previous video clip that you recorded or tap Redo to add the removed segment back to your video.
Tap NEXT to preview your video and then tap NEXT again to add details to your video.
Add a title (max 100 characters) to your short video.
Tap Select audience to choose whether or not your short is Made for Kids. Learn more.
Tap Upload to finish.
Now you know how to use Shorts, its time to look at some awesome tips and tricks you can use on YouTube itself right now to enhance your overall experience.
Keyboard Shortcuts
Hit K or the spacebar to play/pause your video and M to mute.
Hit J to move back 10 seconds and L to move forward 10 seconds.
The C key toggles captions on or off.
Shortcuts also work on your smartphone.
Double-tap on the right side of your screen to skip forward 10 seconds.
Double-tap on the left side to go back 10 seconds.
Repeatedly tap to move in 10-second chunks in either direction.
Tap your profile picture/icon in the top-right of the screen and go to Settings > Skip forward and back to change how many seconds you want for each tap.
Dark Theme
Ever felt eye strain when watching clips? Tap your profile picture/icon and go to Settings > Appearance to choose from Dark theme, Light theme, or let YouTube default to your device’s theme.
Incognito Mode
Incognito mode lets you browse freely without worrying about your search and watch history reflecting it. To use Incognito mode, simply tap your profile picture/icon and select Turn on Incognito. Its the same to turn it off.
Highlight A Certain Time Of A Video And Share With Friends
Getting tired of having to tell friends what time they need to skip to in a popular video you want them to see? Well, now you can simply right-click and select Copy video URL at the current time then paste this video with this timestamp anywhere!
On a mobile device, scroll to the time you want to share and pause it. Tap Share > Copy link. Paste the link where you’d like and add this to the URL: ?t=00m00s. The zeroes represent the minutes and seconds, so modify them as needed. For URLs that already have a question mark, add an ampersand like this: &t=00m00s.
Changing Speed
Ever wanted to slow or speed up a video you are watching? Go to Settings and then Playback speed. You can run the video from a quarter speed up to twice the normal speed. You can also use the < and > keys as a shortcut.
On mobile, tap the three dots in the upper-right corner then tap Playback speed.
On your computer, use the number keys to jump to the corresponding section of the video. For example, 2 will bring you to the 20% mark and 9 will bring you to 90%. 0 starts the video from the beginning.