They allow seeking on longer shorts (not sure what the threshold is, maybe 20 seconds?), but it's stupid that they don't just enable it on everything (and apparently it's straight-up impossible to seek shorts on desktop, very cool). Also I hate that there isn't a way to hide the UI on mobile so a good 15-20% of the screen is permanently covered by buttons and text. Personally I only watch the handful of shorts a day published by the channels I subscribe to, so I only deal with it for a few minutes at a time.

I've seen some YouTube streamers experimenting with vertical streams (I'm assuming it's something YouTube has been pushing to try to attract the younger demo) and it's so dumb because while, yes, the streamer can now take up nearly the entire screen, it means there's nowhere left to put chat or titles or anything else (god forbid you try to play a game) and is thus a substandard experience. I can sorta understand it for like a casual IRL stream where you just prop your phone up while you're eating or hold it while walking around or whatever, but I just don't see the point for someone who's streaming from a desktop setup. If I'm on mobile I'd rather have a normal horizontal stream so I can choose between no UI with the stream using the whole phone screen (for passive viewing) or all the UI (chat, buttons, title, etc.) while still being able to type and still being able to see the whole stream smaller but unobstructed.

Idk, maybe it's just boomer Twitch mentality and I'm just failing to understand the other perspective. I guess if you're only typing very short messages or using the little react thing you tap on in the corner the UI thing is less of an issue, and if the stream is someone's body from the waist up it doesn't really matter if the bottom part of the stream is covered by chat. Not for me, but if other people enjoy it it's cool that they're getting an option that better suits their preferences.