NicholasBly/youtube-webos 0.7.1

on GitHub

Summary

This release focuses heavily on performance, stability, and responsiveness. The core state management system has been rewritten to consolidate expensive DOM observers and functions into a centralized PageManager. This significantly reduces CPU usage and provides a smoother experience, especially on older TVs.

New features include smart shortcut chaining (skip 5s, 10s, 15s... smoothly without notification spam) and a new shortcut to jump to the start of the last SponsorBlock segment. The red, green, and blue buttons on the LG remote are now apart of shortcuts and can be assigned any shortcut.

New Features

Shortcuts

Smart Skip Chaining

• Skip Forward/Backward now moves in *5-second increments+ (previously fixed at 15s)
• Pressing the key multiple times will "chain" the skip distance
• The on-screen notification now updates dynamically (e.g., "Skipping +10s", "Skipping +15s") instead of spamming multiple notifications
• Removed debounce delay for instant responsiveness

Skip to Last SponsorBlock Segment

• Added new shortcut to jump immediately to the start of the previous SponsorBlock segment in the video

• SponsorBlock segment will be temporarily whitelisted so you can watch it without the auto skip kicking in (if "Skip Segments Once" is disabled)

• Added red, green, and blue buttons to shortcuts

• • If open/close config shortcut is unbound and YouTube is force closed, a startup check will ensure it is bound to green on startup

AdBlock

• Added guest mode filtering of "Sign in for better recommendations" button on home screen

Optimizations

Core System (utils.js)

Centralized State Management

• Implemented PageManager: A single system that tracks "Watch" vs "Shorts" state for the entire app

• Replaced multiple CPU-intensive MutationObservers scattered across different files with a single, efficient observer

• Added isWatchPage() and isShortsPage() exports for O(1) instant state access

• **Impact:*+ significantly reduces CPU and memory usage

• Predetermine sendKey support at launch via browser compatibility check and not every time during each sendKey call

• Cached launch params to ensure JSON.parse only happens once per session

• Early exit optimizations

Configuration System (config.js)

Pure JS Callback System

• Replaced the old DOM-based event messaging (DocumentFragment/CustomEvent) with a lightweight Map/Set callback system
• Eliminates the memory and CPU overhead of creating ~50 DOM nodes just to handle settings
• **I/O Debouncing:*+ Added "dirty checking" to write operations—prevents blocking I/O and expensive JSON serialization if values haven't actually changed
• Optimized config reads to O(1) speed

SponsorBlock

Smart Sleep Logic

• Added logic to "sleep" segment checking for (x - 2) seconds until the next segment appears
• Stops the loop from unnecessarily checking for segments every frame when none are nearby
• Dynamic Listeners: Automatically disconnects time listeners when the last segment is passed and reconnects if you seek back
• **Caching:*+ checkForProgressBar now caches the element and only re-queries the DOM if it disconnects

UI & Shortcuts

Lazy Loading & Caching

• Config UI is now lazy-loaded (only initializes when opened)
• **Shortcut Caching:*+ handleShortcutAction no longer creates ~13 objects/functions per keypress
• Refactored hot paths to use switch statements for maximum JavaScript engine efficiency
• Reduced DOM Thrashing: Passed the video element from handleShortcutAction into helper functions (performBurstSeek, playPauseLogic) to avoid querying document.querySelector('video') multiple times per keypress

AdBlock

• Performance: Replaced O(N) string scanning in detectResponseType with O(1) object path lookups to reduce latency on large requests
• Memory: Refactored filterItemsOptimized to use in-place array modification, significantly reducing Garbage Collection (GC) pressure
• Optimization: Pre-compiled all registry paths into arrays to eliminate runtime string splitting and caching
• Cleanup: Removed pathCache and legacy text-based detection patterns

Fixes

Screensaver

Shorts Support

• Attempted fix for screensaver activating while watching Shorts (needs further testing)
• Implemented a "keepalive" mechanism that sends a simulated Yellow Button press every 30 seconds only when video is playing/active

Legacy Support

• webOS 3: Refactored sendKey command to improve simulated key presses

Play / Pause Shortcut

• Improved logic: Sends the "Back" key instead of multiple "Up" presses to dismiss player controls
• Bug Fix: Automatically blurs the active element (like the play button) before dismissing UI to prevent accidental activation on webOS 3.x
• Fixed bug where the shortcut would close the Description Panel if it was open

General

• **Guest Mode:*+ Updated schema paths to fix the "Hide Sign-in Button"
• **OLED Keepalive:*+ Enhanced sendKey command logic (cancelable: false) to ensure keepalive signals reach the system

Changes

OLED-Care Mode

• Shorts background is now set to Pure Black
• Focus ring on Shorts is set to a dimmer white to reduce screen burn-in risk

General

• Notifications won't appear if the previous one was the same text and is already on screen (timer will just be extended)
• Converted remaining pixel values to viewport units in ui.css
• Play / Pause toggle updates the existing notification if still on screen