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Is Google Badly Designed?  (View post)

Elias KAI [PersonRank 10]

Sunday, May 21, 2006
18 years ago6,343 views

Google isn`t badly designed but designed for A psychometrical reason.

1- One thing Google wants you to is to Search and all you need to do as for today (later it will be voice search command) is to type your words *Actually I just listened to a song that say Give me the words that tell me everything.

2- Yes to become as ONE

3- Reason for Downloading and having the buzz of new tools is by answering the needs, just like today Pearl Jam Life Wasted was offered for FREE until next wednseday only to give people ability to download it, discover google video player (because in this google video player you can search by thumbnails or videos and play it easier than any other tool in the market)

Elias KAI [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #


In A Manner Of Speaking Lyrics
by Martin L Gore

In a manner of speaking
In a manner of speaking I just want to say
That I could never forget the way
You told me everything
By saying nothing
In a manner of speaking I don’t understand
How love in silence becomes reprimand
But the may I feel about you is beyond words
Oh give me the words
Give me the words
That tell me nothing
Oh give me the words
Give me the words
That tell me everything

In a manner of speaking Semantiks won’t do
In this life that we live we only make do
And the way that we feel might have to be sacrificed

So in a manner of speaking
I just want to say
That like you I should find a way
To tell you everything
By saying nothing
Oh give me the words
Give me the words
That tell me nothing
Oh give me the words
Give me the words
Give me the words
Give me the words
Give me the words

Haochi [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Google understands about the dial-up users...(Not me though, but my friend told me it take about a minute to load the yahoo page on his computer)
Simple wins.

Joey J. [PersonRank 5]

18 years ago #

I think the only thing that could be done better would be a blatant link to an explanation to all their services and how to use them on the home page. I think that'd fix most of the problems that guy addresses.

pokemo [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

The current design of google homepage is the best for me...:)

PAStheLoD [PersonRank 1]

18 years ago #

It's very effective for search (the old homepage, not the /ig one, that can be customized, thus slowed down), but if I want to check my mail, then I've to go to mail.google.com, and there's no way I can reach Gmail from google.com

pacificdave [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

[put at-character here]Haochi: for me Google.com has always been my default home page ever since around 2000. if i was to be a Yahoo or MSN user then I'd probably just set my home page to search.msn.com or search.yahoo.com. simple search page that loads as quick as Google.com... almost ;-)

[put at-character here]PAStheLoD: i think they only include the current links for a good reason. they're the tools that the vast majority of people would use the most. it's a weigh between their biggest money makers and most used tools.

and i just had to let you know Philipp... this article was really moving. it was both very informative and beautiful for the geeks at heart.

Boris Yankov [PersonRank 0]

18 years ago #

The power of the simplicity is way too hyped.
Do you really think that Google become the leader because of it's web page?
Am I the only one that remembers the countless meta-search engines that were very similar to Google's current page?
Am I the only one to remember that Yahoo's search sucked in 2000th and AltaVista that were better and were gaining market share, just introduced very abusive ads?
Sometimes it takes lame competitors in order to win. If Yahoo or AltaVista improved enough, Google's page simplicity would be irrelevant.

Randhir Reddy [PersonRank 1]

18 years ago #

Wow! a nice response to a lopsided argument. Google is what it is today bcoz of the clean UI and the quality results, which invariably satisfy the users to the hilt, sometimes reminding of God's work.
Its thought provoking when the Google calendar guy said "google one box is gonig to be the command prompt interface of the whole world", and without the complexity of the CUI.
Just goes to show, how far ahead The Googlers are thinking ahead of the pack.

Ryan [PersonRank 0]

18 years ago #

If you click "more" on the Google.com homepage, it provides a link to most of their services, as well as brief description of each. Most of the remaining ones can be found on Google Labs, which is linked to from that page.

Not quite as easy to find as Yahoo!, but if I wanted 500 different web services, I would Google for them and fine them :-P. I don't need them thrown in my face.

Jean-Marie Le Ray [PersonRank 1]

18 years ago #

Wonderful impressive post! As simple and functional as the Google interface. I love it.
Jean-Marie

Wang Y. [PersonRank 1]

18 years ago #

Though Google is simple enough, but powerful enough to help users to find what they want. we like it!

Seth Finkelstein [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

I think Google understands probability.

Catering to the simple 99% is far more successful than to the advanced 1%.

It's not the *only* reason for Google's dominance. But it's a factor.

It's like Paul Kedrosky says: http://paul.kedrosky.com/archives/002215.html

   1. People are lazy
   2. People are lazy
   3. People are lazy

The interface is non-threatening and efficient for what it needs to do.

Jason Martindale [PersonRank 0]

18 years ago #

www.google.com is designed the way it is because google has one major mission and a googol of small ones. They figure focus on the major goal first and offer that as the highlight of their main page. Everything else can be found by those who are willing to look for it. So since search is google's major mission they offer the option of search on their home page. If their mission ever shifts then the look may change, until then a search bar is what you get.

Euphrosyne [PersonRank 1]

18 years ago #

I seem to recall reading this article sometime last year, though it may have been old even then. I've read alot of Norman's work and he has some great thoughts. However, he is not a god among men--by which I mean that while he has written some good things, he certainly has no monopoly on good design knowledge.

What struck me when first reading this was that it's contrary to pretty much everything that he's written before. Here he complains that the Google UI is basically *too* simple, and that it only does one thing. But when you read his books, they are all praising the elegance of objects that do only one thing, and do it better and more intuitively than others! So maybe it's personal and Google has declined his services in the past, or Yahoo! pays him on the side :)

For me the argument is moot because I use a heavily customized Google page. This reinforces Philipp's point about Yahoo--while perhaps "good" design--not being "completely mine". My Google page not only has the content I want (no more, no less), but it is even arranged as I see fit! Yahoo isn't even playing the same game here. Norman has always had an air of designer superiority and I think it shows here; for him, it is the designer's job to design well, and the user's role to use the design. He's never been very supportive of highly user-customized design. This perspective has its place but is, in my opinion, something that will seem increasingly anachronistic.

greent [PersonRank 1]

18 years ago #

Great post:
Philosophical, bordering on Poetic.
Yet with great practical insights into Website Usability.
With analytic observations from a Comic Book on Comic Book Theory, of all places.
Bravissimo Philipp!

Seth Finkelstein [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

By the way, from other websites which have the post, the essay seems to be from September 2005.

Ze [PersonRank 0]

18 years ago #

If I want something in my page, google give me with one press buton, so DON'T CHANGE GOOGLE :)

yhancik [PersonRank 2]

18 years ago #

have you heard about John Maeda's 'research' on simplicity ?
http://weblogs.media.mit.edu/SIMPLICITY/

it should interest you

Jayesh [PersonRank 0]

18 years ago #

When I started using internet over a dial-up line, google's simple design was the most important thing that dominated my search engine choice.

Today also new search engines like ask.com follow google's web page layout. Search is the primary funciton of these pages, but they also provide links to the other functions their site offers (froogle, local, maps, etc.) Although the links aren't in particularly beautiful font or images, they "do their job" and that's what counts. UI is not about beauty, it's about simplicity.

Roger Browne [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

I prefer an even simpler Google interface – an input field in the top-right corner of the Firefox browser.

pacificdave [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

[put at-character here]Roger: well mine is "even" simpler. i hit CTRL twice and it brings up my Google Quick Search Box.....

ShellehS [PersonRank 5]

18 years ago #

google is better.
yahoo dizzy me, feel like a forist in it i hardly find the way i m looking for.
what i m looking for?

google seems more clear, and, more beautiful.

Lelia Katherine Thomas [PersonRank 1]

18 years ago #

Some of the worst designed sites have dedicated visitors.

Marcus Matzick [PersonRank 1]

18 years ago #

I have found that since the new Yahoo Mail came out I have been getting a lot more junk mail. I get hardly any in my Gmail account..........

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