

Google's 'new' design: More than meets the eye - kiriappeee
http://techstopmuse.tumblr.com/post/5270647501/google-making-a-new-search-page-whatever-for

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notJim
Here's the link he's referring to: <http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/06/google-
new-results-page/>

__Edit __: I see now that there's a link the to the TC article well-hidden at
the bottom of the article. It's cleverly disguised as a link to something
called<http://me.lt>, which returns a 405 method not allowed error when I
visit it.

 __Edit the 2nd __: removed vitriol.

~~~
kiriappeee
hey sorry. the link referring to it is a shortened one via the rockmelt
browser.

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51Cards
I have the new results coming up in my searches and I strongly dislike it.
Very poorly spaced, hard to perceive header / detail groups, colours are MUCH
too faded, skinny fonts, spacing requires _much_ more scrolling, uneven
spacing between results isn't intuitive. Sorry Google but I have to vote for
'UI Mess' on this one.

There are several threads forming on the Google forums complaining, though
that happens almost every time you change something people are used to. This
time however I am with them whole-heartedly.

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currywurst
In fact, I had got another search result test page, where it was even worse !
The main differences were that there were no dividing lines, and in addition
to the washed out palette, the usually green 'url' section was also gray !!

Unfortunately, i didn't have the presence of mind to take a screen shot and
two refreshes later it was gone .. was amusing though :)

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georgieporgie
_Think about it. When was the last time that you really had to dig past the
2nd page of results in a Google query to find what you were looking for. A few
obscure searches aside, when was the last time you had to go beyond the first
page?_

Uh. Pretty much every day. I guess I have obscure interests. Then again, when
I search for 'common' things, stepping past blogspam and content farms takes
awhile.

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drivebyacct2
I hope every single one of these predictions is wrong. I do not like infinite
loading, I have NO desire to rearrange Google results and I do not like the
new design that was on TC.

I always come back to Google, from Bing to DDG, because of how quickly I can
scan the results. The contrast, size, spacing is all very good. The new layout
Google is testing wastes way too much vertical space.

~~~
CamperBob
Also, is it just my browser, or does the homepage at <http://www.google.com>
immediately rearrange itself as soon as you start typing, in order to make
room for the Google Instant results?

If so, they need to make their UX people pee in a cup every so often, just for
research purposes. _Do not move the #$#@ form while I'm typing in it!_ Sheesh.

~~~
Pewpewarrows
It's been like that ever since they rolled out Google Instant last year. While
you in particular might not like it, it's been a pretty big hit in the web
development community and average user experience.

~~~
CamperBob
Really? I don't remember them compressing the whitespace above the Google logo
as soon as the user starts typing. Maybe that's why I turned Instant off last
year...

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kiriappeee
Just so people know. Just predicting what this is is not my only intention. I
keep seeing members of the tech community dumping nearly every new idea or
iteration the moment they first see it and I think as people who call
themselves tech enthusiasts that's a real dumb thing to do. You can't progress
without change, you can't change without trying and trying means experiments.

Being part of the tech world means being part of the fastest evolving
community and the one that gives room for all further innovation in nearly
every other sector.

My biggest purpose in doing this is to try and show that given an apparent
lemon, how you can try and make lemonade out of it, or rather how to try and
build up on what's available for you rather than always wanting to stay in
one's comfort zone.

One point about arranging results. Google power users only. And Google would
have an algorithm being modified to suit your interests. If crowd sourcing
doesn't work, if friend recommendations don't work because of the noise then
your obvious best choice would be to have an algorithm work the way the user
wants it to work. And how do you do that if the user can't tell what he/she
wants. Hence the rearranging of results which is the user saying "No Google, I
kind of like official pages more than blog posts" (or vice versa).

PS - Thanks a lot to the great HN community which sent the traffic soaring
through my blog. I'm trying to score a position as a professional tech blogger
eventually and this sort of stuff gives me a lot of motivation to keep at it.

\- Dreams are meant to be lived.

