

Google's new "batshit crazy" UX - MichaelJW
http://dcurt.is/batshit-crazy

======
JonnieCache
What is also annoying is when the logo on a company/product's blog goes to the
blog index rather than the homepage of the company, leaving me to either
manually edit the url or look for the link which is always in a different
place with different text.

If your blog exists to drive traffic to your product, why would you not link
that big logo in the top left to the product page?

This is second in annoyance only to company blogs that don't have a tagline
explaining wtf the product is, leaving me baffled when I click though from
here or wherever. Thankfully people seem to have learned from this and you
don't often end up dumped, contextless into the middle of some domain-specific
screed any more.

~~~
davidu
I've never understood how any company could let this happen and yet we see it
constantly. Perhaps it's because Wordpress or TypePad or Posterous don't let
them change the link at the top, but I doubt it.

It definitely ranks as one of the most common Web 101 mistakes out there.

------
redwood
I think the bigger problem with Google's UI is that the top links to Google's
top-level categories do _not_ keep your search terms. Only the left links
do... In other words if I search the web for "Afghanistan" and then realize I
actually want news article search results, if I click "News" at the top I have
to re-type "Afghanistan". This is terrible.

e.g. from
[http://www.google.com/#hl=en&gs_nf=1&qe=YWZnaGFuaQ&#...](http://www.google.com/#hl=en&gs_nf=1&qe=YWZnaGFuaQ&qesig=RixfB3BguS7IikRX_fkyvw&pkc=AFgZ2tk5cM7WTF1Rg-
vYMwglP-9942DQkIuExD3jwpCO_I3NUa7hz9Wij2RQjBfDIHAP4baRlAuJArluvnYC7a7UC54RTly6iw&cp=7&gs_id=q&xhr=t&q=afghanistan&pf=p&output=search&sclient=psy-
ab&pbx=1&oq=afghani&aq=0&aqi=g4&aql=&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=40a11131701df559&biw=1024&bih=514)

Link to left:
[http://www.google.com/search?q=afghanistan&hl=en&biw...](http://www.google.com/search?q=afghanistan&hl=en&biw=1024&bih=514&prmd=imvnsu&source=lnms&tbm=nws&ei=--tET92HIIjQrQfcr822Dw&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=5&sqi=2&ved=0CCsQ_AUoBA)

Link at top:
[http://news.google.com/nwshp?hl=en&tab=wn](http://news.google.com/nwshp?hl=en&tab=wn)

~~~
moocow01
That functionality -- especially in regard to the news tab -- drives me nuts.
Over and over I click the top news tab forgetting I have to click the link on
the side and lose the current context of my search.

At first I just assumed it was a bug since the other tabs kept the context of
the search. Then after a week of the same, I looked into how to flag the issue
so it could be fixed and low and behold I found it was a product feature (or
non-feature).

Its such a strange UX decision that I have to assume that it is driven by
revenue generation or some other metric rather than good user experience.

~~~
davidu
I've always assumed the Google News link losing state was a bug. It's a tab
bar, and it used to keep state. Now it doesn't.

I suppose they had to do it this way or nobody would ever really see the
Google news homepage (as if that matters).

------
hamletdrc4
Complaining about broken website conventions while simultaneously breaking
them yourself is either ironic or hypocritical, depending on your mood.

The author's webpage has a "x Kudos" vibrating image on the right and side,
and if you _hover_ over the image then the page sends a "like" HTTP message to
the server. So now hovering my mouse over an element just had me like the
author's page. That is way worse than a link with a broken image.

~~~
ward
Also odd: You can keep giving "kudos", refresh the page and repeat, the
counter doesn't mind. Can't seem to take your vote(s) away though.

------
makeramen
...although sometimes it takes a little batshit crazy to break convention and
change things for the better. Really, only time will tell...

I keep getting reminded of Zuckerberg's Startup School interview
(<http://www.justin.tv/startupschool/b/298808358>) where he talks about moving
equally too fast and too slow or as Jessica called it "a willingness to break
things."

On one hand, I'm slightly frustrated at all these weird changes these
established companies are making; but on the other hand I'm excited to see
them messing with things that seem so core to their product, it shows that
they're still willing to experiment and not getting too comfortable (which I
think is more dangerous).

~~~
phpnode
this is not a change for the better, what possible advantage does it offer?

~~~
aevodor
With the "Kennedy" UI (codename for the recent cross-product redesign), many
Google properties had their own logo replaced by a plain Google one. Now, to
differentiate between products such as Google Voice, a red-colored product
name is displayed right below the Google logo.

Also, when you do a Google search, the product name is now always "Search",
even when you started a search in Google News / Images / Videos / Shopping /
Books / Places / Blogs / Discussions / Applications / Recipes or Patentes.

With Kennedy, Google has actually reached its goal of becoming a 'universal
search engine' and it can finally show a single interface for (almost) all
types of queries (except for Maps, Flights and search for personal/private
items like email and documents).

You can still access the specific homepages of Google Images and Google News,
but Google is slowly convincing users to initiate all their searches from
google.com, without thinking about which engine to use. Thus, every search
from news.google.com redirects to classic google.com, with the "news" filter
activated.

For personal searches (eg Gmail, Reader, Docs, Voice), Google hasn't
completely switched to the "filtered results interface". Most of those apps
need their own homepage with a list of items (messages, contacts, documents,
voice messages, top stories, feed items). However: \- most of them have
switched to the plain Google logo with the red-colored product title. You can
stay in the app or refresh the item list by clicking on the product title
instead of the Google logo, which would lead you to the unexpected Google
homepage; \- most of those homepage (or "item lists") could be merged with
Google+ and the new notification bar on google.com, so you could access all
your personal things from a classic search. For social results, it's working
pretty well since Google Plus Your World: all social items are shown on-top of
other results in a classic search. Soon, every new email, documents update or
voice message could appear in the notification bar and search results (just
like social items): no need to go to mail.google.com, docs.google.com or
voice.google.com.

Now (to answer your question), what result do you expect from a click on the
Google logo in Gmail? - To go to you inbox? No, that should be the result of a
click on the product title, Gmail. \- to go to the Google homepage? No, you're
not familiar enough with Kennedy navigation.

So my guess is that Google is trying everything to get you to click on
products' title to go to/refresh its homepage. Meanwhile, they prevent you
from clicking on the Google logo because you wouldn't understand (yet) why you
would be redirected to google.com from Gmail.

If this (presumed) strategy work, you would always go to google.com to
interact with any kind of products/items, without having to "navigate". Just
search Google or browse your notification stream, whatever the type of content
(message, documents, web pages...) and its context (personal, social,
public...).

~~~
phpnode
Just looking at Gmail now, there actually isn't a Gmail logo anymore. There is
a Google logo that I can't click on and there's a Gmail link underneath it,
but clicking the Gmail link opens a popup menu. I have to then click "Gmail"
on the popup menu to get to my Inbox. (Or I could just click "Inbox" of
course, but that sometimes gets hidden when i have a lot of labels open, and
it's a smaller, fiddly link). I'd bet more people will have noticed this
change in behavior than those who've noticed the change from a Gmail logo to a
Google logo.

My point is, all this requires me to think. But before I could just swing my
mouse into the top left corner, click "Gmail" and always end up at my inbox,
no matter where I was in the application. This consistency has gone.

I should have phrased my question: "What possible advantage does this offer,
to the user?"

~~~
aevodor
Ah, I knew someone would mention the total inconsistency of Gmail's title. I
also think it's detrimental to the vast majority of its users.

For most other products, Google prefers to frustrate some users (cf.
[https://plus.google.com/117598418867899518106/posts/Zr4vhv6p...](https://plus.google.com/117598418867899518106/posts/Zr4vhv6pYtR))
by disabling all logos' links while users get familiar with clicking the
products' titles to go to the products' home. But once users will be used to
this and all those products will be fully integrated with Google Search (cf.
my previous comment), then they'll add a link to the all those Google logos in
products' header because they won't be lost in a service (Google Search) that
is independent to the product they come from (Gmail / Docs / Reader...). If
they succeed, I think all users will benefit from this new navigation concept.

I don't like the current situation (unusable product logo) but it's certainly
temporary: they've reverted to the dark navigation bar a few days after the
release of the big toolbelt navigation menu, so they're probably still looking
for a good solution.

In the meantime, it's a difficult POLA dilemma
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_least_astonishment>): 50% of Gmail
users might expect to be sent to Google's homepage by clicking the Google logo
in Gmail, while the other users might expect to refresh Gmail or go back the
inbox by clicking the only logo in Gmail's header. Where should Gmail's Google
logo point to?

------
Xion
The first time I needed a permalink to particular tweet, I spent good five
minutes looking around for it. Only accidentally I noticed that the timestamp
has it, and it didn't strike me as obvious at all.

Having a link which clearly says 'Details' seems much more intuitive in this
case. And even if it was indeed Twitter who has started this pattern of
linkifying timestamps, now it could be considered as them backing off from
confusing UX decision that many sites parroted.

------
gjuggler
I think the logo clicking decision isn't crazy. My interpretation is that
Google is "un-training" users from using this valuable piece of screen real
estate for a useless no-op function, in anticipation of putting a more useful
function in its place.

Does anyone remember a few weeks back, when Google tested a "new way to browse
Google's services"? They turned the logo into a button, producing a drop-down
menu of services to navigate to.

My guess is that they found the new logo-button didn't work well, mainly
because so many users saw the logo as a big button which refreshed the page or
went to the inbox.

At the risk of making predictions, I'd guess this recent change is a grace
period, designed to get us all used to using other buttons for reaching the
inbox. And once people no longer instinctively click the logo-button, they'll
introduce the new navigation which makes better use of that valuable screen
space.

I could very well be way off the mark here... but it seems pretty clever to
me, TBH.

~~~
TeMPOraL
> My interpretation is that Google is "un-training" users from using this
> valuable piece of screen real estate for a useless no-op function, (...)

It's not an useless no-op function. By going to default/main page of the
service it reverts you to a known state, simplifying navigation and enhancing
user confidence. I personally rely on this behaviour of main logos and get
terribly annoyed if someone breaks my expectation (which, rarely, happens).

------
gravitronic
Hyperbolic link,

Half of content is a quote,

This is just blog spam.

------
AznHisoka
The most annoying part of Google's UI is changing email settings inside Gmail,
and I know I'm not alone in this... On the top right, there's a link for your
name, a link for your avatar, and THEN below those the most important one you
probably want (that wheel icon): the email settings link. So annoying!

I don't care about changing my Google Plus or account settings if I'm in
Gmail. I wanna set up filters or setup aliases. Why is the email settings link
not prominently featured? I always end up clicking the wrong link when I want
to change email settings. Also, don't get me started on creating a filter.
That used to be 1-click and DONE in the old settings, now it's like finding
Waldo. Ridiculous.

------
jkohlbach
I sooooo agree.

Although I rarely, if ever click on the logo in gmail, I do believe in the
"logo should be a link to the root" convention. Surely that's just UI design
101, right?

The twitter one you mentioned in the article drives me super crazy as well.

~~~
taeric
The thing that amuses me is it took me a while to find the equivalent of the
keyboard shortcut "gh" (go home). I think I finally found if you expand the
gmail logo and click gmail under that, it does what I wanted.

I am deeply grateful for the fact that they have not messed with the keyboard
shortcuts yet.

------
joeyh
I had a gift card to burn on googlestore.com last evening. Noticed pages like
this one <http://imgur.com/6Y1nO> which is apparently a failed search for a
category, that simulantaneously has 0 matches and six pages. Same thing
happens when I click on the big Youtube merch logo at the top of all pages
there.

I was clicking around my google profile today (to remove history etc) and
found broken links to google products there.

I remember when it was simple and perfect..

------
funthree
Some reasoning: It gets (read:forces) you to use the top bar. For people that
always ignored the topbar before; they cannot now. So these users, as well as
everyone else who used it only sporadically, are now using it always and thus
are more likely to investigate and use other links/apps on the topbar now.
These of course include all of the other google services. It's like herding
cattle.

~~~
jcfrei
this seems to me as the most plausible explanation. I reckon the average user
might use one or two more google products: maps and gmail. he probably
accesses gmail via gmail.com and maps via maps.google.com and never even cared
about the black top bar.

EDIT: interesting change: on my local google.ch, the top left google icon is
clickable but no hover (hand) icon appears.

~~~
patio11
_I reckon the average user might use one or two more google products: maps and
gmail. he probably accesses gmail via gmail.com and maps via maps.google.com_

One has a very... unique experience as to who an average user is if one
believes the average user understands subdomains. (Or, increasingly, anything
that goes into a URL box other than a search term which may occasionally have
a .com in it due to legacy branding.)

------
davidw
I always clicked on the gmail logo, and it drives me batty that they changed
it. It's just an easier target for the mouse/my eyes than that little reload
button, or, even worse, the inbox link.

~~~
MichaelJW
Remind's me of Fitts's Law: <http://particletree.com/features/visualizing-
fittss-law/>

------
lwhi
When you don't want to be known as 'just a search company' how are you going
to tackle that?

Provide a direct link your premier / 'home' product via your logo (reinforcing
the idea that you're a one-product company), or encourage users to consider
the full range of products by making them choose the one they're most
interested in?

It seems sensible to me; there's nothing 'batshit crazy' about it.

------
vibrunazo
The article is missing an important detail. They didn't just remove the
ability to reload. They replaced it with the ability to go back to the top of
your stream without reloading everything. (on g+ at least)

Since google+ already loads new posts automatically. In practice this will do
almost the same as before, but with less waiting on the client side. Sounds
like a smart design choice imo.

~~~
agscala
If that's the case, that makes sense on google+. On GMail though, I personally
am used to clicking on the logo to refresh my inbox. Now I have to click on
the navigation tab "inbox" to do that. It isn't a big deal really, but I find
it odd to completely rip out the previous action only to replace it with no
action at all.

------
quattrofan
I've got the new Gmail design, when I click the logo it goes back to the Inbox
regardless of where I am... so not sure I understand the problem?

------
ctdonath
Working at a large company, I was once informed that the company logo should,
on a dynamic user interface, do exactly nothing. Clicking on it was not to go
home or help. Much as I disagreed, the powers that be dictated otherwise.

Could be similar reasoning here: lawyers or marketing or some such got
involved.

~~~
silon3
It is fine, if it refreshes the current context (in Gmail inbox, for example).

In Gmail, the search bar next to it searches Gmail by default, so that would
be consistent and expected. There will be much resistance if that bar starts
searching other things.

------
ajarmoniuk
BTW, does anyone know how to go the next page after the UI change? Buttons
just vanished and one can only see up to 50 messages.

EDIT: one has to click on "1-25 of many" and the buttons to change pages
appear. Does anyone find it intuitive?

------
Permit
When I click the logo, it takes me back to the Google Homepage. I've refreshed
my cache a number of times. Perhaps they've reverted back?

My mouse cursor does not change from default when I hover over it, though.

~~~
pdkp
I think it is only disabled on certain interior pages.

I just logged in and in GMail, clicking on the Google Icon didn't do anything.
Worked the same on a few other pages I tried.

Perhaps they haven't rolled out the changes to all pages yet, but seems
inconsistent to only disable it on certain interior pages...

------
doah78
I thought I was the only one that this change annoyed the hell out of.

------
zerostar07
My biggest gripe is that they completely removed the link to "Scholar" from
the search menu options, making my omnibar so less useful, and there's no
option to reenable it.

------
jakeonthemove
Hmm, I NEVER click on a logo to go to the home page... don't know why, I just
look for a home button or type the address in the address bar. The logo is
just there...

------
ctb9
This also drove my crazy.

My Temporary Fix: revert to the old school GMail, and select the theme
"Preview (dense)".

