Well, it's not really categories.. But have a look..

aycu33.webshots.com/image/3971 ...

I was absolutely sure this had already been posted about but I can't find the thread. I definitely read about it here though:

googlesystem.blogspot.com/2008 ...

Oh..
Sorry :P

In my limited experienced, I noticed that most people ignore Google's navigation bar and very very few know they can access other Google services by clicking on More. I could be wrong, though.

No i think you're right here...

Google should think of a way to make it more useful.. :/

Some observations:

* It's difficult to locate items in a drop-down list if they're not sorted alphabetically.

* Google Finance is not a search engine. Try 10 random queries and see how many return results in Google Finance.

* Picasa Web shouldn't show search results. "Photos" should be a navigational link.

I used to always use the "Blogs" item in the drop down which was at the top. Now I have to actually think every time I want to do this. Thinking is bad. Don't make me think!

Plus, the YouTube one has been broken since it's been there, and that's the one that I always click on.

I rather just type the first two letters in the address bar. And if Firfox doesn't offer anything, i go to the navbar.

Tony

Here is the link:
blogoscoped.com/forum/121384.h ...

Weird. I searched the last five or so forum pages for "nav" but nothing showed up. I'm sure there's a bug that means some forum threads get hidden (which has been the case before). Let me do some testing...

[Edit: Yep. The thread was in "limbo" (i.e. between page 1 and page 2) when I was searching for it. I've alerted Philipp to this bug. Thanks.]

<<Plus, the YouTube one has been broken since it's been there, and that's the one that I always click on.>>

The YouTube link is not broken. Its only purpose is to send you to YouTube's homepage (ignore the parameters). It's a navigational link, the same as Reader, Google Docs, Google Calendar.

As if the different names for different products wasn't enough, they vary which products which serperate search, seperate "even more" and some don't even have an "even more".

I guess creating a common interface is not a priority at Google. I actually struggle now, I rely on the links on the navbar (its quicker) to move around but now I don't even know if the product will be listed and roughly where.

This navbar business is a joke to be honest. I'd rather they added the old search type links back (before they changed to the nav bar) and allowed users to customise the navbar.

I agree, the whole navigation bar is totally not Google. It should be redesigned for quick access to applications or should completely go away.