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Google's New Design
smitty777 writes "You may have already noticed some of the changes in Google as part of their multi-month design slam. These design changes include information architecture focus, seamless device integration, and simplifying a number of elements. According to the official Google blog, the changes over the next few months will affect Google Search, Maps and Gmail. The black navigation bar in place right now is also part of the Google +Project."
I cut way back on Google usage a few months ago when they took over the arrow keys' normal smooth window scrolling and made it jump from one search result to another. That just makes it hard to read and track which entry is next when it jumps like that.
How about a Google Classic page, just the little friendly box that we type our queries into, hit enter, and get our results. Nothing else.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
"People I know, myself included, aren't happy with the change, but that seems to be Google. They tend to change things and users get used to it." I think that's the case here. Google's counting on the fact that once you go black, you never go back.
Or the stylish's script.
All hope abandon ye who enter here.
I'm torn by your comment. In one sense I quit using Gawker all together when they applied their new redesign (because it broke if obscene amounts of javascript wasn't enabled). So it's not like a bad design hasn't made me quit a site...
However they changed a white bar to a black bar. WTF people. Based on a lot of reactions a sane man would assume that they murdered your cat in front of your children. Breathe.
...where it used to be one. And now you have to navigate a menu to do it.
K.I.S.S.
Among the changes, Google announced that it's new motto is "Be evil". The black bar marks its new corporative mentality, that involves new goals such as using it's privileged position to take over the world and kicking puppies.
The good, the evil and the vacuum tubes.
I quit using their sites altogether as well, for exactly the same reasons as you did. I was merely trying to comment on the fact that I think you captured a bit of both sides of the issue here. On one hand, developers are trying to force change in the name of "process improvement." On the other hand, people want things to stay the same, even if it leaves them behind. In many cases, people are taken aback when they are TOLD that the new product is better when that improvement isn't quite apparent. As a developer, you have to weigh the value of improvement with the disruption that you are causing.
In Gawker's case, they majorly screwed the pooch. They massively broke their site while adopting the condescending "we know better than you, so deal with it" tone of voice, which caused many of their previously loyal readers to leave. You at least realize the fact that users are afraid of change and that some (including myself) are very resistant to that change. That puts you WAY ahead of the curve compared to the Gawker team.
Searches for what I want it to search for instead of what it thinks I wanted to search for. Google is always wrong on this one and has been getter worse and worse since they implemented it.
Yeah, pretty much every time I use Google now I start wondering whether there's a better search engine out there because every update makes it less useful. Why should I have to tell the search engine to actually search for what I specifically asked it to search for and not try to guess what I really wanted to search for?
It's particularly problematic for technical searches which often have acronyms which are close to real words and Google 'corrects' them for me.
If you have a vision issue (or just a crappy monitor) it becomes about 10 times harder to read. What advantage does it provide beyond eye candy?
I find this hilarious. When I noticed the change, I said "Huh, it's black now." and my life continued on as normal.
For me there isn't enough contrast. Gray text on black doesn't stand out.
I wouldn't have had an issue with it if it was configurable, but it isn't.
crazy dynamite monkey
I don't like the direction. People flocked to Google because it was minimalist and worked. They expanded their market, but kept their face mostly the same-- minimalist. Now they're going Google+ and open the way for someone to be "Just like Google was before they bloated their landing page".
There was always a menu at the top. Now it's a different color, and has a new item. Not a big deal.
Google.com used to look nice and clean and sleek, now they've continued their uglifying+overcomplicating streak by making the top of the page a different color for no apparent reason (except to draw attention away from what I actually go to the site for, the search box). Another example of the need Google seems to have to be seen to be doing something regardless of whether it is actually an improvement.
... check out what this techy news blog did to their story pages.
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