
DuckDuckGo gets a new look - edwardy20
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=hacker+news
======
quanticle
Does anyone else find that they've been trained by Google's positioning of
sponsored links into ignoring the first few links on a search page? I bring it
up because on the Duck Duck Go search page, I missed the link to Hacker News
the first couple times I looked. I was so conditioned by Google's sponsored
link placement, I was treating the third link as if it was the first.

EDIT: Okay, I really don't like the positioning of the "official site" result.
To me, it should be _below_ the sponsored links, not above. The reason is that
when you're searching for something where DDG doesn't have an "official site"
entry, the first search result appears below the sponsored links. However,
when DDG knows the "official site" for your search query, it places that
result above the sponsored links. In practice, this means that you have to
look in two places for the "first" result - above the sponsored links and
below. Placing the "official site" result below the sponsored links would
resolve this inconsistency.

~~~
epi0Bauqu
We've been fighting against this problem since we first launched. Our zero-
click box has gone through several iterations with it in mind, and people kept
skipping over it. This latest iteration I think (from user testing) does the
best job so far of combating that unconscious inclination.

That's interesting on official site placement. We thought it would be better
for the user to put that official site link first (it's also in the zero-click
info box btw). But it people think it should be below, I have no problem with
that.

~~~
felideon
I'm no UI/UX expert here, but the official site does seem to get lost between
the zero-click box and yellow sponsored result.

~~~
54mf
I hesitate to call myself an expert at anything, but I'm an employed UX
designer and yeah, it does get lost. At best, the eye is drawn to the yellow
box, then to the "next" content below it. At worst, banner blindness kicks in
and the user skips all the content above that yellow box. (This is what
happened to me.)

------
Matt_Cutts
Hey Gabriel, I know that DDG promised on <http://donttrack.us> that you don't
send searches to other sites.

This was the first time that I've seen MSN ads, so I did a search for flowers
and clicked on the ad I got. I landed on the url:
[http://ww11.1800flowers.com/collection.do?dataset=11385&...](http://ww11.1800flowers.com/collection.do?dataset=11385&refcd=MS647809411e_flowers&tsacr=MS417008318&cm_mmc=paidsearch-
_-msngeneric-_-hv-_-Flowers&bannerBeacon=true&conversionTag=true) which has
the word "Flowers" in the url.

That seemed strange, so I did the search [chocolate of the month club] on
DuckDuckGo and clicked on the Microsoft ad. I ended up on
[http://www.amazingchocolateclub.com/?utm_source=MSN&utm_...](http://www.amazingchocolateclub.com/?utm_source=MSN&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=ChocolateClub&utm_content=ChocolateClubA&utm_term=chocolate%20of%20the%20month%20club)
which has "chocolate of the month club" in the url.

I tried some more esoteric searches. The search [one fruit a month] returned
an ebay link
[http://duckduckgo.com/k/?u=http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711...](http://duckduckgo.com/k/?u=http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?icep_ff3=9&pub=5574933636&toolid=10001&campid=5336728181&customid=&icep_uq=one%20fruit%20a%20month&icep_sellerId=&icep_ex_kw=&icep_sortBy=12&icep_catId=&icep_minPrice=&icep_maxPrice=&ipn=psmain&icep_vectorid=229466&kwid=902099&mtid=824&kw=lg)

It looks like the "icep_uq" parameter in the ebay link has exactly my search
query, [one fruit a month]?

I know you've made "we don't send your searches to other sites" a pretty major
policy at <http://donttrack.us/> . With these ads, do you know whether
searches on DuckDuckGo are sometimes sent to other sites?

~~~
epi0Bauqu
Thanks Matt. I removed that block while I investigate, and will report back
when I know more. It's obviously not our intention to leak any search results
through us.

Edit: still reviewing to make sure, but it appears that it isn't sending the
search term via us. In fact, that's why it is going through our server, to
specifically strip out the referrer. This appears to be an optional setting in
the Microsoft ad center that sends the keyword bid for that ad.

Edit2: that does appear to be it. If I take all your examples and append ssn
to the query, ssn doesn't appear in the resulting URL. I'm guessing they just
have broad match on for those terms. You probably know as well as anyone that
the coverage in the query space for ad terms is pretty wide, so if you search
for something near the head you're bound to hit something exactly. I also
tried a bunch of other queries, and since this setting is optional a lot of
times the advertiser didn't set it and so their bid term is not send back;
this is the case for example if I search for google and up at
[https://www.google.com/chrome?hl=en&brand=CHFX&utm_c...](https://www.google.com/chrome?hl=en&brand=CHFX&utm_campaign=en&utm_source=en-
oa-na-us-bk-bng&utm_medium=oa)

------
pak
I have to say, why such _loud_ mouseover effects? It's distracting to have all
these boxes popping in and out as I scroll through the results. I get that
you're trying to show that the click area is that big, but it impairs
readability--most of the time while using a search engine I am reading very
quickly. Perhaps some people leave their mouse off to the side when they
scroll, but many people "think with their mouse," pointing at stuff as they
look at it.

I would personally tone them down to just the underline appearing on the
result link (where that activates for the big click area, and not just when
mousing over the link _within_ the big click area).

~~~
achompas
I have to disagree. DuckDuckGo + keyboard is great for searching docs, Stack
Overflow, etc., and the box helps me navigate with j/k.

~~~
pak
I'll agree that it's about the right contrast for keyboard navigation, but a
compromise is straightforward: show it only after pressing j/k (as with the
current behavior), and use a much subtler effect for mouse hover.

------
underwater
Great work Gabriel. I've just switched to DDG as my default search engine. A
few suggestions though:

The divider between the search and drop down buttons should use alpha-blended
colors rather than dotted lines. It looks really bad in some situations, for
example the :active state on the drop down button looks like it doesn't darken
the divider. _Edit_ Just noticed the down state on the front page search
button is actually a pixel off. The down arrow also dips a pixel on active
state.

The :active state on the more button is missing the last few pixels at the
bottom.

The results don't have padding to the right. When a result is highlighted the
description text can run all the way to the right border. Also see the
"Internet search engines" hover state for q=DuckDuckGo.

Consider packaging your image resources into sprite sheets (check out
<http://spriteme.org/>). There are flickers when I use some elements for the
first time. Most noticeably the :hover state for the search suggestions and
toggling the plus/minus button. Clear your cache to see them.

~~~
epi0Bauqu
Wow, thanks for all the specific suggestions!

------
elisee
Looks like a clean, straight-to-the-point design.

The top box has some padding issues when hovering the contained links: there's
more padding on the left than on the right, and the first link has more
padding on the right than the next two (tested in latest stable Chrome &
Firefox). See screenshot:
<http://polyprograms.free.fr/tmp/DuckDuckGoPaddingTopBox.png>

On an unrelated note: I have a hard time taking your service seriously because
of the duck branding and the DuckDuckGo name. It looks like you're doing a
great job but somehow DuckDuckGo doesn't feel like a name for something I
would use on a day-to-day basis. I guess I can just overlook it if the service
is good enough but I do wonder if your brand is hurting your service. Maybe
it's just me though!

~~~
omaranto
Which search engine do you use? The ones I've tried all have silly names:
Google, Bing!, Duck Duck Go, Blekko...

~~~
kennywinker
Yahoo!

------
newobj
Made DDG my default search engine in Chrome today. Not because of the
redesign, but just because I think it's time to start looking at alternatives.
(The fact that I don't even need to qualify _what_ I'm seeking an alternative
to means I should be looking at alternatives!)

------
mike-cardwell
I think the "Official Site" buttons should be made more prominent and to look
more like an official seal. I just pulled a random image out of Google Images
to try and explain what I mean:

<http://www.anythinglefthanded.co.uk/images/certificate.jpg>

The golden icon in the bottom left of that image. Something like that.

~~~
zach
I think just using a pastel color on the "Official Site" lozenge would work
well. Maybe a goldenrod to suggest the idea you're trying to communicate.

The gold seal/blue ribbon idea is a good one but may disrupt the very-text-
based rhythm of this page.

------
peregrine
Love the new look. One thing I want to bring up is page load speed. I went 2
weeks with DDG as my default search engine for all browsers but I had to
switch back because of the difference in page load speed. Its just .5-1 second
slower then Google and I cannot stand it.

I would find the results to be fine, and the interface to be good but the fact
I had to wait slightly longer drove me absolutely up the wall.

~~~
Corrado
I tried a DDG experiment on my home machine and after 6 weeks or so I switched
back to Google. Sometimes DDG was almost as fast as my thought process but
very often I found myself waiting several seconds for search results.

It sounds trivial but those were very, very long seconds. When I'm in the
middle of a deep programming problem I need an answer _now_ while it's still
fresh in my mind. Giving me 2 seconds for my mind to wander off is too much.

Another problem that I had was that there was no way to sort my results.
However, that looks to be solved with the latest DDG interface. :)

Get the speed up and I'll be back!

~~~
Purgox
You could try <http://duckduckgo.com/html> for faster responses. :)

------
Wilya
For a second, I thought : "Bad choice for an example query. It doesn't even
finds the real HN."

Turns out Google has trained me to scroll past anything looking like a
Sponsored link a bit too well.. It took me a few seconds to spot the "Official
Site" link.

------
m_for_monkey
The best thing about DDG that it's very configurable. Many commenters here
complaining about things they could easily change in the settings menu, like
colors, advertisements, floating header, results placed in the middle, etc.

------
shaggy
I really like it. I think it's clean, modern a nice color palette and an
improvement over the previous version. Nice work DDG!

------
aquark
I like the new look. I've used DDG as a default search engine on my main
computer for several months now and kept Google on others.

Recently I've noticed that I am consistently missing some of DDG's features
when still using Google so it must be time to switch over everywhere.

------
draggnar
After using duckduckgo for a few months, as my default in chrome... the bang
syntax is worth it. There are !bangs for everything!

Also if you don't like the colors everything is customizable in the settings.
I switched the search results width to wide which is quite nice.

~~~
faboo
I'll second the bang syntax. As the your browser's search provider, it's like
having dozens of context-specific search engines built in.

------
brador
Don't like it.

I really hope people stop copying the Google/microsoft "big block color
squares" UI strategy. Please copy Apple more, gradients and buttons that stand
out nicely and perfectly rounded corners. Things which pop out of the screen
nicely.

------
54mf
The new UI has a lot of really nice touches, and is a lot cleaner than it used
to be. Kudos for that. The magnifying glass and menu arrow in the header are
gorgeous, I love the dotted line between the two. Really nice.

That said, there are a lot of issues, in my opinion. Clicking that menu arrow
pops out a really bland box with no padding and no structure to the content.
The "header" text is wrapped in dashes, but the text looks exactly the same as
the rest of the text in the box. Like someone else said, the mouseover effect
on the individual results is really harsh. The zero-click box at the top fades
in to the background, and the sponsored link is intrusive and throws off the
flow of the entire page.

I hope you folks keep working, because the progress I've seen in the last
couple years has really been great and I want DDG to be a huge success. Search
is completely ripe for disruption - Google got simplicity right, but most of
their recent updates have been boring or steps backwards. Keep fighting the
good fight. And if you're ever looking to hire a UI / UX designer, let me know
where to apply. :)

------
duck
How do you determine what makes something an "official site"? I see it with
the "Hacker News" search here, and with Twilio for example, but not with Fog
Creek or Ford.

You guys keep doing awesome work Gabriel, keep it up!

~~~
______
I am curious about this too. Nothing in the support center directly addresses
this -- perhaps a brief explanation would be good to add there?

~~~
epi0Bauqu
We do this often through our 0-click sources, e.g. Wikipedia though there is
an algorithmic component as well. However, we try not to have false positives
so it is clamped down pretty tight.

~~~
cpeterso
The official sites have some strange results. For example, the official site
for "mozilla" is listed as wiki.mozilla.org, not mozilla.org.

~~~
epi0Bauqu
Thanks -- will look into that bug.

------
larrys
Who is supplying the sponsored links? There isn't anything on ddg that gives
any information other than this:

[http://help.duckduckgo.com/customer/portal/articles/216405-m...](http://help.duckduckgo.com/customer/portal/articles/216405-making-
money)

Gabriel, how does someone purchase a sponsored link?

Edit: Appears that this is going through msn if you look at the URL that is
generated.

~~~
epi0Bauqu
We're looking into different providers, but right now that is coming through
BOSS, though you're right that is MSN on the backend.

------
samdk
The positioning of sponsored links makes me very sad. I use j/k/enter to
navigate most of the time, and this means that I need to worry about
accidentally selecting a link with a near-100% probability of being completely
useless to me. (It's really annoying when it's the first link, because I can't
just press 'enter' to go to it.)

It also wastes a lot of screen space on a smaller screen, especially when the
zero-click info box is there. Being able to see only 1-2 useful results
instead of 2-3 is annoying.

I've been using DDG for over a year now as my primary search engine, and I
like it quite a lot. I understand the need to make money, but I'm going to be
very sad if I have to go find a new search engine because ads have compromised
the UI.

~~~
epi0Bauqu
The previous ads on the right were taking up more space than this new
sponsored link and they weren't being seen much, resulting in essentially zero
effectiveness. Additionally, we continually get requests for actually having
sponsored links in-line because when relevant they often add something to the
result set.

So what we hoped to do is kill three birds with one stone: a) add in a
relevant sponsored link (work in progress); b) generate real revenue to make
the service self-sustainable (while still keeping it as minimal as possible);
c) reclaim the space on the right side for more interesting interactions (more
to come).

We've been testing this for a while on some traffic and it has preformed well
with essentially zero complaint. We realize there will be some people who
don't want it, which is why there is a setting to turn if off (ad block works
too).

Also, the whole page has been compressed up so really it shouldn't be taking
much more vertical space. In other words, with the smaller default fonts and
other spacing changes that height has been removed from the page rendering it
more of a wash with # of results on the page.

~~~
m_for_monkey
Have you considered an optional two-column layout to utilize horizontal space
better?

~~~
epi0Bauqu
We do have a second column. Right now the search suggestions appear there and
sometimes maps, but there will be more!

------
rkudeshi
I love the new design. I preferred the old color scheme (light green feels
easier on the eyes), but I'm sure I'll quickly get used to the new one. Other
than that, everything seems much more consistently designed and cleaner. Great
job.

PS. I've been trying out DDG for a while and switched over almost completely
in the last few months. I find increasingly fewer searches for which I need to
jump over to Google, too. Even better, once I explained to my dad how DDG was
different than other search engines, he WANTED me to switch his computer to
DDG. I predict 2012 is going to be a heckuva year for y'all!

~~~
ufo
I guess the new color scheme must be their secret way of pointing us to the
color customization page. And also an underhanded way to get us to accept
their cookies :)

------
Meai
Well the main page is good but the search results are still overcrowded. The
hover-effect on the search results is distracting. It just diverts attention
from the results. I doubt many people really read like this: "hover mouse over
first result: Not it. Ok, up to the next one: Hover mouse over second result.
Not it. Ok next one."

Then of course, it bothers me that I have to pay attention to where I click,
and if I want to copy paste text, I have to be exact about it, otherwise I
accidentally click on whitespace that will direct me to a result page.

It's just too much "cognitive work" associated with the UI.

------
huhtenberg
I am all for using really small fonts, but this is a bit too unreadable -
<http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/2720/unreadable.png>

~~~
epi0Bauqu
Noted -- that font size could probably be increased a bit.

~~~
strager
Not just that; in Chrome 16 (OS X), I can't scale the font up myself like I
used to be able to do with the page zoom options. (I could probably define
myself a CSS for DDG, though...)

~~~
epi0Bauqu
No need -- will fix.

------
MrJagil
Wouldn't it make sense to have the zero-click info on the left side instead of
all that white space? Once you realize it's there you'd always have
instantanious access to both zero-click info and all of the most accurate
results without needing to scroll. Further, you could have a very elaborate
zero-click info box instead of the current, heavily compressed one.

Right now the center seems very stuffed.

------
greut
I was like: “what the f* happened” when it changed between two searches…

------
manifold
Edit: (search box was broken: <http://i.imgur.com/Z5chu.png>) Ah, it was a
zoom issue with firefox. I like the redesign. Perhaps long-term you can make
zoomed/unzoomed pages degrade more gracefully, or at least keep the search bar
on top :)

------
dlikhten
I love it except for the red bar on the top. Bad color choice. That is all.
Keep up the improvements.

~~~
epi0Bauqu
I recognize this color isn't for everyone, and you can change it in the
settings.

~~~
MatthewPhillips
Sweet! Would be great if you could preview the change without going back to
search.

~~~
epi0Bauqu
Agreed -- that would be useful :). And it is on the (albeit long) list!

------
reader_1000
I think the problem with the official site result is that offical site element
is smaller than the others which makes me think that it is less important and
less relevant to the search. Some description text or something else should be
added to official site element to make it more notable.

Also I am wondering if DDG has a plan to add suggestions to their search. I
use suggestions a lot in Google search and it would be nice to have them in
DDG also so that transtion from other search engines to DDG will be smoother.

------
yaix
Unfortunately, I don't like it. Not because its new, but because I don't like
"position:fixed" elements when I scroll. I am using a netbook most of the time
and all these fixed elements take up half of my screen (maybe not half, but
feels like it). When I scroll, I do it because I want to scroll, not because I
want most of the GUI to not move. Unfortunately, position:fixed seems to be
the current "thing" to do for many designers :(

~~~
epi0Bauqu
This part hasn't changed in the new visual design, but duly noted. Note you
can changed the fixed header in the settings as well as turn off the sidebar.

~~~
lftl
I wonder if you could use media queries, to drop the fixed positioning if
screen size is below a certain height.

~~~
epi0Bauqu
We could do that in the JS as well. You think it is more important on mobile
I'm assuming then?

------
faramarz
I'm curious why the results are center aligned? It's a very odd placement for
search results. Perhaps it has to do with the filters being on the right,
instead of filling the white-space to the left side.

Studies also suggest that we are trained to read from top left.

I made two revisions for comparison
[http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7141/6689971833_94c5b35d3e_b.j...](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7141/6689971833_94c5b35d3e_b.jpg)

~~~
lloeki
I actually enjoy this, but it makes something unbalanced in the top bar. The
"search box + more" is aligned with the centered text, but the 'more' button
color makes it disappear layout-wise. Coloring it the same as the search
button would make it more button-y and would overall balance the layout more.

Other design nitpicks:

\- the search button is green on the home page but blue on the results page
(while the goose knot is still green).

\- the menus like behind the 'more' button feel out of place (weirly sized,
lacks padding and all). They do not 'flow' enough out of the buttons so they
feel floaty and disconnected to their trigger.

~~~
epi0Bauqu
Thanks for the suggestion.

On the search button: on the homepage it goes with the logo tie more, but on
the inner page all the green makes it look too much like Christmas. And then
in testing, people generally actually liked how it changed (a bit fresher).
However, this could be a target for another setting.

On the menus, they will be redesigned.

~~~
lloeki
> _However, this could be a target for another setting_

Watch out for _featurecreepitis_ , too much settings kill settings. Much
better for a designer is to acknowledge compromises, decide and stand up for
your choices.

------
JS_startup
It looks gorgeous. DDG has become my search engine of choice over the past
month; clean design, no social media or other things garbaging up results. Use
it!

------
mirkules
Are there any plans to implement auto-complete? It helps me when I search for
technical problems to see if a) I'm on the right track, or b) if there are any
alternatives to the search term that I'm looking for or c) if I'm not sure
what exactly to look for

For example, if I enter "ios uiview " it will autocomplete with things like
"animation", "lifecycle" etc and then select the right one.

Nonetheless, thanks for making DDG awesome :)

------
simon
Ok, I'll be the guy who says that he likes the previous version. :-)

I don't dislike the new look, but it's not a dramatic departure. And I fail to
see the problem that the new look solves. The red bar doesn't bother me, but
is there a reason why the search button switches from green to blue? That
seemed visually jarring.

I still have it as my default search engine, so don't worry, you haven't lost
me as a customer.

~~~
epi0Bauqu
You can get most of the old colors via this link:
[http://duckduckgo.com/?q=test&kj=d&ky=g&k7=w&...](http://duckduckgo.com/?q=test&kj=d&ky=g&k7=w&kab=r)

That uses our URL parameters: <http://duckduckgo.com/params.html>

You can also achieve this via the settings:
<http://duckduckgo.com/settings.html>

------
rglover
Don't entirely recall the old design, but this is really well done. Simple and
to the point. A little bit of room for improvement, but that will come from
further iteration and feedback from users.

Best part: infinite scroll. Google could learn something from this (yes I
realize entire businesses are built on "getting on page one of Google," but
this makes searching much more fluid).

~~~
leak
Doesn't infinite scroll take away from potential advertising?

~~~
pbhjpbhj
No reason you can't bring up more adverts with each new "page" of content
added on to the scroll.

------
wgx
Is there a way I can make 'typing into the address bar' search DDG by default?

If I can get this set up, then I'm fully switched.

~~~
epi0Bauqu
Sure, depends on your browser:
[http://help.duckduckgo.com/customer/portal/articles/216425-b...](http://help.duckduckgo.com/customer/portal/articles/216425-browsers)

~~~
tansey
Not to be too harsh here, but wouldn't you want that URL to be a little bit
better optimized for search engines?

Just look at the results for "how to make duckduckgo my default search
engine":
[https://duckduckgo.com/?q=how+to+make+duckduckgo+my+default+...](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=how+to+make+duckduckgo+my+default+search+engine)

~~~
epi0Bauqu
Yes, probably! This is how it is coming out of assistly, but duly noted.

------
runjake
It looks clean, if a bit too Googly, but I like it. I especially like the
results layout.

Gabriel, any chance we could get a "do not include results from this domain"
option in the results? You guys do a really good job of carving the cruft out,
but I still find no use in sites like Mahalo and Mashable.

------
mike-cardwell
The contents of the "More" menu would look a lot nicer with a bit of
horizontal padding.

~~~
epi0Bauqu
Yeah, this menu and the drop down next to the search box are both slated for
redesign as well but didn't want to hold up the launch any more. Any specific
suggestions on them would be greatly appreciated.

~~~
MatthewPhillips
My cursor isn't changing when floating over More, intentional?

~~~
epi0Bauqu
Nope, bug. Thanks -- adding to list. It used to be just a hover thing.

~~~
mike-cardwell
If I click on the "More" button, it opens a dropdown menu. If I click anywhere
else on the page, then this dropdown menu should close. As it stands, it stays
open unless you explicitly click the More button again.

------
LeafStorm
Something about the formatting and typography in the "bang" dropdown just bugs
the heck out of me. It appears very unpolished and boring compared to the rest
of the design.

Though overall, this design does look much nicer than the previous one.

~~~
epi0Bauqu
Yup! That hasn't changed (it is just a native select box right now), but will
so soon.

~~~
blahedo
Oh, please don't! I _like_ native controls. They actually _work well_. Every
site I have ever seen that has reimplemented popups and scrollboxes and
whatnot, has missed many of the little UI tweaks that help our experience and
took three decades to get right in the first place. E.g.: if I veer briefly
outside the width of a native popdown menu, it doesn't go away. At a lot of
sites with some sort of popdown menu, if you go one pixel outside the
boundaries, the menu goes away and you have to go up and re-select it. And if
the site gets that bit right, there's other things they've missed.
Reimplementing a GUI OS in Javascript is not a good use of our time....

~~~
epi0Bauqu
I have completely agreed with this to date, which is why it has remained a
select box. But the problem is you can't really style them effectively cross-
browser and so now it sticks out like a sore thumb.

------
mickeyckm
I love the ajax loading of results. no more paging, just scrolling. Now I wish
it could be my default search engine in my Chrome omnibar.

~~~
rkudeshi
It's actually pretty easy to make it the default in Chrome:
[http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2011/08/changing-the-default-
search-...](http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2011/08/changing-the-default-search-
engine-in-chrome.html)

------
simonbrown
What's the point of the non-SSL link for Wikipedia? I can't imagine someone
who knows what SSL is actively clicking it.

~~~
epi0Bauqu
I recall that the SSL wikipedia link didn't work right on some mobile
browsers, but maybe that is fixed now as they've changed the way that is all
set up.

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realschool
very nice, much cleaner looking....

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brackin
Long time DuckDuckGo user, very excited by this update. All I want at this
point is speed.

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richardburton
Just switched to DuckDuckGo as my default Chrome search-engine. Should be fun
:)

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_pius
Wow, this is such an improvement! Great job!

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dhruvbird
Consistent UI theme-ing in the new look! :)

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wesley
Great, now get rid of the duck.

