

Google Tests a New Search Interface - Osiris
http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2011/05/google-tests-new-search-interface.html

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currywurst
I am really uncomfortable with links not being underlined. It is a basic
understanding that people new to the web pick up first.

Taking away this cognitive aid forces link identification primarily by color
(and size perhaps). Wonder if this is an acceptable trade-off.

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adamjernst
I actually like whitespace.

Especially with two-finger scroll or iOS inertial scrolling, the "cost" of
scrolling is near zero. Why not encourage scrolling?

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ugh
I think it's a tad too much, it looks a bit unbalanced to me.

What I do like is the increased line height. So many websites could be
improved by just increasing the line height a bit.

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pedrokost
I am glad they are testing making all the description (also website urls) in
grey leaving only the title in blue. I've found it a bit hard to quickly
glance through all the results with urls in green and additional links also in
blue.

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currywurst
Hmm .. i had the opposite reaction. I usually look at the url to judge whether
this result is worth following, and the all gray look makes this difficult.

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obtino
The white-space makes the results far more legible. It makes the user focus
more on the results rather than going straight to the next button (or changing
the search terms).

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ojosilva
Google's experiment looks a lot like Blekko's current search results design.
Blekko already has results further apart and no underlines. DuckDuckGo also
has a similar result styling.

Could it be that 2 small search engine players have made Google rethink their
search UI, or is it just UX common sense nowadays?

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throwaway32
Yea, the star designating the official site is very reminiscent of duck duck
go. I wonder if they will add a quickinfo/zeroclick area.

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timedoctor
What's really interesting is how much they split test and experiment with
their interface. I doubt that Yahoo and Bing to it to the same degree?

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duck
_Fortunately. the new interface is still an experiment._

Eh? Why would Google write that?

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duskwuff
They didn't. It's an independent blog following them.

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duck
My bad. That's what I get for reading about Google after my bedtime.

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gabaix
what struck is the diminishing of links you get on above the fold. With the
new spacing between titles and descriptions, I get only 5 answers above the
fold. It's a good thing: I focus around the first results.

