I know from experience with this blog that redesigns are fraught with uncertainties - new things may break, people fear change and get attached to a particular style, and so on - so I'm watching the Google redesign with particular interest.
Google is rolling out a new look (you may or may not yet see the new design) that's sleeker and, well, different. It's actually their 8th iteration - though previous changes had been subtle that most users didn't even notice. Not this one, though. Marissa Mayer, VP of Search calls it "particularly large and particularly important."
Helen Walters of Bloomberg BusinessWeek has the inside scoop of the redesign process:
Google has long had advanced search capabilities, but they were difficult to find. The goal of redesign eight was to surface them and integrate them into the main results page. Users now get results with an extra column of tools to drill deeper into information. That means a query can be quickly refined to show only results from shopping sites, say, or just videos on a topic, or the latest news results. Add in a new logo and a splash of colorful icons on the left side of the page that guide users through the new options, and the look is noticeably different (right).
Given that the shift of a few pixels can affect Google's profits, why would the company ever mess with the most successful product in the history of the Internet? "The Web is always changing, evolving, and innovating," says Mayer. "It's important even for sites that people use every day and are very familiar with, like Google, to update their look."
Now, without going further into the functionalities of the new Google, let me ask you a simple question:
Previously on Neatorama: 10 Neat Facts About Google
I love google, I still do, but I am not fond of the redesign at all.
Thank you "Alex in Blog & Internet," I appreciate the opportunity to vent.
1) uncluttered
2) desired results are immediately easy to locate
Now they have a bunch of visual junk cluttering up the screen. I'm going back to Lycos. Or Dogpile.
Why does it have to "rock" or "suck". And "meh" is also on the negative side. The changes will take a little getting used to, but they've added options without interfering with "normal" usage at all.
Good luck to 'em.