YouTube TV Web Channel Guide Compactor

WHAT IT DOES

YouTube TV Web Channel Guide Compactor reads the YouTube TV channel guide from the YouTube TV page and transforms it into a dense, information-dense compact view. Each channel entry is reduced to show only the essential information: channel name, channel logo, current show title, and show time. Redundant visual elements like extra descriptions, separators, episode titles, ratings, duration, genre tags, and other metadata are removed or hidden. Spacing between entries is condensed, with each entry taking minimal vertical space. The compact view applies consistent styling to all channel entries, making the guide easier to scan quickly at a glance. The extension persists your compact mode preference, so the view stays the way you like it across sessions. Additional toggles let you control whether channel logos are shown and adjust the font size.

WHERE IT RUNS

This extension works on all YouTube TV pages at youtube.com and its subdomains, specifically on the channel guide section of YouTube TV. It runs on the main YouTube TV page, the live guide view, and any page displaying the channel guide. The extension operates entirely within your browser and does not access YouTube's servers directly—it reads only what is visible on the page you are viewing. It works alongside the free BotGentz extension, which provides the necessary scripting environment.

HOW TO USE

Install the extension, then navigate to youtube.com and open YouTube TV's channel guide. The extension automatically applies compact mode to the guide. Click the extension's icon in your browser toolbar to open the settings panel. The "Compact Mode" toggle controls whether the compact view is active—toggle it off to restore the original layout. Use the "Show channel logos" toggle to show or hide channel logos in the compact view. Use the font size dropdown to adjust the text size—choose Small, Medium, or Large. The "Apply Changes" button manually reapplies compact styling. Your settings are saved automatically.

SELECTOR-BASED COMPACTION WITH DIRECT STYLE INJECTION

Unlike complex DOM restructuring approaches, this extension uses a combination of CSS class injection and direct style application to achieve compaction. It first adds a CSS class to the channel guide container, which applies compact styles to all child elements via the extension's stylesheet. For elements that are not fully controlled by CSS, the extension directly manipulates element styles—setting display properties, adjusting padding and margins, and hiding non-essential elements. The extension uses a recursive approach to apply styles to both the container and all descendant elements, ensuring comprehensive coverage. The direct style application works alongside the CSS class system, providing a robust two-layer compaction strategy. A MutationObserver with debouncing detects DOM changes and automatically reapplies the compaction, handling dynamically loaded content without user intervention.

THE PANEL

The panel supports drag-to-move anywhere on the page. It remembers its position per site, so it stays where you placed it on youtube.com. Click the panel header to collapse it down to just the minimized bubble, or click the expand handle to show the full panel. The panel can be resized by dragging the bottom-right corner. Press the Escape key to close the expanded panel and return to the minimized state. All panel settings, including position, size, collapsed state, compact mode toggle, logo visibility, and font size, are saved per site and persist across browsing sessions.

PLEASE NOTE

This extension requires the free BotGentz extension to be installed and active, as it provides the underlying DOM injection and script execution environment. YouTube TV's interface changes periodically, and channel guide element structures, class names, and page layouts may be updated. When that happens, the extension may stop compacting the guide until an update is released. The extension stores your compact mode preference, logo visibility, and font size locally in your browser's storage using GM_setValue. No data is ever sent to any server, and no personal information is collected. The extension does not read or store your YouTube login credentials, email, or any identifying information. It only reads visible channel guide data from the page. You can clear all stored settings at any time by clearing your browser data for youtube.com.