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Google Tests Always-Visible Left Sidebar  (View post)

Ionut Alex. Chitu [PersonRank 10]

Friday, November 20, 2009
14 years ago37,852 views

<< “We’re basically looking at a new look and feel for Google,” Mayer said of the change. “It’s an overall cleaning up of the search results page.”

The search options appear in the left-hand column. The former “All results” area that allowed you to switch between different types of searches (images, news, maps and so on) has been replaced with new tabs for these services:

Internally, Mayer said that Google calls “modes.” For example, after searching for “australia” in the example above, you’re in “Everything” mode (I love this name). But with a click on the Images tab, you can switch to “image mode” and get back image results, select News to get news results in “news mode” so on. >>

http://searchengineland.com/google-streamlines-search-options-30143

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2785/4117327765_7f54178eb9.jpg

DPic [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

So stylized! I'm not sure if i'm ready for such a change... xD

WebSonic.nl [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

Don't know about this. It looks clean but it's quite a change and I don't want a menu constantly on the left side. I have the idea they looked at Bing or something for inspiration.

Above 3 comments were made in the forum before this was blogged,

James Xuan [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

I love this, the only thing I don't like is the search button. WANT.

BizAbh [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

it looks gr8

Dimitar Panov [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

I'm not sure I like the change.
Especially that blue "Search" button – I very much prefer the current one.

KoalaBear [PersonRank 1]

14 years ago #

I like the Google logo, its more 'smoothie' and not that 'hard'.

I also like the other changes, and need to use it before I can say the blue search button is better, or not.

TOMHTML [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

it looks nice, I like it

Cookie Lee [PersonRank 9]

14 years ago #

Wow, it looks beautiful!
   But I think they can make the left sidebar collapsible (expanded by default).

Mambo [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

I could swear I designed that about 3 years ago....

=/

pnoque [PersonRank 1]

14 years ago #

Nooooo!!! It's like they got up one morning and thought, "Huh, we're kicking Yahoo's butt. Let's celebrate that by abandoning the minimalism that gave us our edge and redesign our search results page to be more Yahooish."

CJ Millisock [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

I don't think the change is necessary or adds much utility, but I won't mind it as long as it the pages maintain their fast load time.

drtimofey [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

IMO it's a great move. The colors are candy to the eye, and the layout is symmetrical and simple. Only the top menu should be removed.

Ben Allen [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

I want a hide button. Do not take my hide button away from me.

Sarah James [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

looks like Bing.

Adrian [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

First iGoole no choice on the left nav and now pushing one with Google Search. They are making it hard to stay a happy Google user. I guess they are bored with being number 1, so they need to mess around with a winning formula. Personally, I think this is the Internet version of "new" coke.

David [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

I'm using it (involuntarily) at the moment, and it sucks. Looks cheap and nasty (like Yahoo) and the results page is cramped with the sidebar.

Keep it simple Google, for the love of God!

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

David, could you look in your browser cookies for the cookie named "pref", by google.com, and could you email me the contents of that cookie (info[put at-character here]blogoscoped.com)? This way, I can publish that code and we can reproduce the experiment...

Stephan [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

Here's the PREF-Cookie:

javascript:void(document.cookie="
PREF=ID=20b6e4c2f44943bb:U=4bf292d46faad806:
TM=1249677602:LM=1257919388:S=odm0Ys-53ZueXfZG;
path=/; domain=.google.com");

[Line breaks added – Tony]

WebSonic.nl [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

Thanks! it works perfectly.

mbegin [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

I don't like it. It's cheesy and not Google-like. They even changed the home page! It seems like a Yahoo/Ask/Bing SERP, not Google. I much prefer the simplicity of Google's current SERP. I really hope this never goes live... and if it does, I hope there's an easy way to always use the "Classic Google" interface.

mbegin [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

Here's the new Google Logo from the home page:

http://www.google.com/images/srpr/logo1w.png

Franta H. [PersonRank 6]

14 years ago #

When I first saw the screenshot I quite liked it, I thought it looked nice. Now when I actually use it I think that the old Google is better – it's clean, less cluttered... I feel a bit disoriented in the new SERP. The main problem is that when I am scaning the results, the sidebar is too disturbing (especially the blue "Everything") , it slows me down. But perhaps I will get used to this.

WebSonic.nl [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

Now that I've used it i have to agree with Franta. I think I could get used to it (like a have a choice) but it would be nice if they change the colors. For instance the old Google logo is much better compared with the new one. The new one looks a little childish with the brighter colors – (Google Kids).

By the way, could someone edit the cookie post from Stephan :-) It stretches the layout of the forum a little..

jeremy [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

I agree with Franta and WebSonic the only thing I think can be interesting is the possibility to filter the results by maps/blogs/news/images/etc, but I think something more ajaxy would be better.

KoalaBear [PersonRank 1]

14 years ago #

The logo is much better. But now I really using it, I like to old one better. Something that I didnt guess, I thought I liked the new one better.

Dd [PersonRank 1]

14 years ago #

In my opinion : the color of the new logo are too much bright.
The bleu search button too :/ the old ones are still better.

The side bar looks cool. This will center the searched text, that's interesting.

Dejan [PersonRank 1]

14 years ago #

Stephan, just one question, how in the world did you get that cookie PREF?

I have two firefox profiles and i want to use new google in both of them therefore i copied the whole cookies.sqlite to another profile without any luck, but when i tried cookie provided above it just worked :)

regards

Justin Sein Lin [PersonRank 1]

14 years ago #

The buttons are too bright in color. I would prefer the native buttons to the image buttons. (It looks Bing-y!) The overall color saturation is too high to be comfortable to the eyes too!!!

The sidebar is getting too much into the search result...I keep getting disturbed by it when I'm going through the result list.

The ability to easily filter results by categories is nice, but it should be done in a more subtle way rather than having a PERMANENT sidebar sticking out all the time.

Alex [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

Could anyone tell me how to get the regular google back after doing this?
Thanks.

Veky [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

Just delete your cookies (or only that particular one).

Tom Buchanan [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

I hate this change. I use a portrait display and the left side of the screen is really important real estate. Cluttering it with a fixed feature and then compressing results is really nasty. It might not matter on a landscape display where the top of the screen is so critical, but hey, there should be a way to turn it off.

Jens [PersonRank 1]

14 years ago #

Terrible.

Copies function that now reside at both top and at the side.

Sidebar constantly changes, never sure what to expect.

Doesn't work for me.

Scio [PersonRank 1]

14 years ago #

At least the more polished logo gets my vote.

nightsmusic [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

Did nothing for me. Google page remains the same. Code didn't work

Dave [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

Nope – didn't work for me either. Maybe they did something to disable the hack.

dpneal [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

In my opinion the padding around the page is much better, it gives a lot more space for the results.

The logo is much cleaner and fresh. Definitely better.

However, the blue of the search button and the selected left had nav item are too distracting. They need to be toned down a little.

The have toned down the blue of the secondary links, this helps focus on important pages.

Position of the 'About results' is also good.

Overall I really like this, though it does need a little tweaking.

Jason [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

I think it's ugly, but can't argue with the usefulness. Just learned you can filter results by visited/unvisited.

Keehun [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

I think the new vibrant logo is really really well done. I think Google actually spent some time on the gradiant masks...

Otherwise, I dislike the current search results list. The sidebar's ok, but right now, Google isn't giving enough weight to each result in my opinion. The older one was way better in that regard.

I love the vibrant blue search button in the home page, but I think on the results page, it should be toned down because of the reading flow of your eyes by human nature distracts you from the results itself...

Mike [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

Ahhhhh! Looks terrible. How do I turn it off?

Fabian [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

Cannot get it work, probably because of a localized version of Google? Do you just post the javascript code in the address bar and hit enter?

Tanks a lot

dpneal [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

[put at-character here]Fabian make sure you're on google.com and then post the code in the address bar and hit enter

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

Update: Added "... <ins>when on google.com</ins> ..." to the explanation...

Chris R [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

Any idea how to make this work for country-specific google sites? I changed "google.com" to "google.ca" but it didn't seem to work for me.

robyn [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

sweet!
worked like a charm.
i went back and forth between old and new in tabs.
hate the new logo.
wish i could get rid of the sponsored links
like page previews and less shopping sites filters
love the timeline
thanx!

Craig [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

Worked just fine for me. I get a kick out of people who criticize just because of the colours and other things that have nothing at all to do with the way the most important information is presented. Google is trying to stay fresh and ahead of the curve, and you people who have nothing more to do than say "it's too glossy" are too funny.

It provides me with a clean, more complete and easy way to access a variety of resources related to my searches. That's what it's all about.

Take your school yard nit-picking back to the playground where it belongs.

sam switzer [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

bleh. I don't like it. most of it I can deal with but the image as a search button is too much. they know better than that :(

Q [PersonRank 2]

14 years ago #

Is this text below search results new too?

"Personalized based on how awesome you are (and your web history). More details"

Definitely adds to the cheesiness of this new design. What's happening? Also Google Wave doesn't look too Googley anymore, did they switch designers or something?

WebSonic.nl [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

By the way, I didn't have to log out, refreshing was enough.

jb89149 [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

I like it

pdboddy [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

Doesn't work for me. -.-

sr [PersonRank 1]

14 years ago #

tried to get back to the original google by clearing cookies & restarting firefox – to no avail. any other ideas how to get the plain older version back? thanks!

hebbet [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

>>Is this text below search results new too?

"Personalized based on how awesome you are (and your web history). More details"

nope, see http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/more-transparency-in-customized-search.html

mbegin [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

This phrase is new:

"Personalized based on how awesome you are (and your web history)."

Sterling [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

Thanks for the script. I tried the one on Gizmodo but for some reason it didn't worked.

I guess I can't say whether I like the new interface or not. It's okay.

The new Google logo is nice. I like that! Hopefully it means a new Google favicon 'cause the current one is just awful.

Google goes Bing.

Raanan [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

Doesn't look friendly. It looks as if we're back in 1999, so we can call it Googoback :-)

Jesse sullivan [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

Wow. Google is ripping off Yahoo and Bing. The dorks at google must be innovating like Microsoft these days. Google is evil after all.

Franta H. [PersonRank 6]

14 years ago #

I think I am getting used to it... it's not so bad after all.

fjpoblam [PersonRank 1]

14 years ago #

Just like when they forced the tabs on the iGoogle start page. BWC

Pete W [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

Hi, we're Google, and we thought you might like to see what we look like in drag. Here's us pretending to be Bing, only much less beautiful.

Dear Lord it's like an ugly man in a corset...

Josh [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

It is horrible! the colours are too bright, and the side bar is just bloody annoying.

mbegin [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

>> I think I am getting used to it... it's not so bad after all.

I'm in the same boat. The more I use it, the more I'm starting to accept *some* of it...

The search options are useful sometimes, and I might actually use them if they're always open like that – Although they would need to standardize all the pages, so if I switch to Images, Maps, Shopping, the search options need to stay...

It would be nice if they used the icons from this page http://www.google.com/intl/en/options/ for the search options... these are the Googley icons that we're all used to and can all recognize. The icons they're using on these search options look like Yahoo or Bing, it's not Google...

Also it would be nice to have the option to close the search options if I wanted to and they would stay closed for my Google Account or with a cookie...

I don't like the new search box with the giant bold text and the ugly big blue search button. (Don't like the bright blue "Everything" either.) -Overall it reminds me of how Microsoft "dumbed-up" the Windows Vista interface with those giant icons and crap...

I also don't like the placement of the "Advanced Search" link – It just seems too crowded up there.

rubbersoul [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

It works great. I really like the new look and search.

Sterling [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

[put at-character here]mbegin:

"It would be nice if they used the icons from this page google.com/intl/en/options/ for the search options... these are the Googley icons that we're all used to and can all recognize. The icons they're using on these search options look like Yahoo or Bing, it's not Google..."

Good call. I would like that, too.

I have to say, I like the new Google search. After my initial post, I've been using the new Google search and I like it.

Andre'sGoogleVisit [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

I've begun to believe we should all have access to any version of
the Internet pages we visit.

The only thing required by sites is to simply keep old versions and
make a link to them.

This would provide a good experience for everyone and only require
minimal work as the work for old versions is already complete.

It makes sense. And it makes good business sense.

1. Sites would see less actual data (usually) since some people would
access older and less data intensive versions.

2. The entire Internet would see less traffic from bloated sites since
some people would use the low bandwidth versions of those sites.

Keeping access to all of the versions of a site would mean that you
can see the same site the way you like it for the rest of your life.

I use the Internet for work and education. For people who want the
bandwidth intensive applications they should have their own page
to read and for those who want the basics they can have their own
page(s) and for the people in the middle they can pick the interim
versions of the page when it was at the level of sophistication they
prefer.

Emmanuel [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

Dont like it, hope they dont get that online for everybody

rick simpson [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Adrian [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

Why bother trying to copy Bing when you're #1?

BoredOOMM [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

Needs toggle to switch back and forth.

I did enjoy Caffiene before they took it out of the sandbox better....

Kavaljeet [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

I like it... New Shiny GOOOOOOOGLE.

chandan [PersonRank 1]

14 years ago #

Killer

Senthil Ramesh [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

It looks like Bing's sidebar. I dont like it.

Ash Nallawalla [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

I prefer the old look.

sinester dudedabulus bro [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

terrible on a netbook, sidebar is almost useless and indents all the results, we do not get that much pixels as mr developer and its fancy hig rez quad screened rig, kthnksbye

google: function over form (and it was wonderfull!), now, how do I reverse this=

Marah Marie [PersonRank 1]

14 years ago #

Not that I like the way Google looks anyway, since I don't, but I don't see the "improve" in the word "improvements" for this set of design changes. The fonts for SER are smaller. The primary color glare from logos is almost knocking me over. And I do not like my search terms bolded, black, and extra-large – overkill, just overkill. I'm not blind – though I may joke that I'm blind from time to time – and Google has a site for blind/low-vision users, anyway. The fonts are killing me almost as much as the colors are...10pt Arial with no letter-spacing, along with the glare from logos...these are typical "design" decisions from Google, IMO. Marissa must love it, though, or we wouldn't be looking at, would we? Or wait, let me guess...she did one of those statistic-collecting things again to come to this set of design decisions, right? Whatever. Bing looks so good in comparison to any version of Google, it just doesn't matter anymore.

Steve [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

Cheeeeezzy

Ziv S [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

It's great in that it doesn't take away anything from how we're used to seeing the results.

Looks very appealing and an easy transition on a 19'' widescreen and high screen resolution. Color scheme is great.

Lee Willis [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

This is horrible – looks like search or 4 year olds. On a laptop in 1024x768 everything just looks cluttered and squashed and the bold blue (Like "Everything" in the sidebar) grabs my attention all the time when I want to be focussing on my search results.

dpneal [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

[put at-character here]mbegin:

"It would be nice if they used the icons from this page google.com/intl/en/options/ for the search options... these are the Googley icons that we're all used to and can all recognize. The icons they're using on these search options look like Yahoo or Bing, it's not Google..."

Also agree.

Plus I think the should use the blues from their new mobile apps interface. Not as bright, and would work nicely with rest of the page.

Jaems [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

Google needs to stop fucking with their page. Images was so far away that I really needed that sidebar constricting my view

dankando [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

It would be nice if Google changed the bright blue buttons to something not so eye-catching... other than that I quite like it.

dowee [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

-I don't give a yuck about the colours, since I'm using FF stylish extension with a custom global style that makes all my pages look gray in the background with dark olive green text.

-THE BAR ON THE LEFT IS JUST FINE! You don't have to move your mouse when you go up/down (vertically) as much as when you move horizontally, thus making things quicker/more efficient. I search on Pixel-Qi and Qualcomm Mirasol on a regular basis and I like to jump right onto video results very often, and that's my search pattern for many other gadget-related subjects. SO KEEP IT UP, IT'S COOL!

Joel [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

After executing that JS and searching for something google spits back a message about my computer possibly running automated searches, and would not display any results.

Boooooo.

wmr [PersonRank 1]

14 years ago #

are you in China
why – http://blogoscoped.com/files/google-everything/1-large.png – Go to Google China?

Michael Torner [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

Doesn't look good to me, as well I like the simple google.

[Signature removed – Tony]

Mike Flugennock [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

Sorry, gang; just isn't working for me.

I've tried switching off NoScript, allowing all cookies, and emptying the cache.

No joy... not like it's ruined my day, or anything, though.

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

> are you in China

Wmr, yep...

Julien Lavoie [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

1- Open the new google, search for platypus.
2- Open a new tab, go to bing.com, search for platypus.
3- Compare both tabs.....

Lloyd Herrera [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

Hi buddy

How can i back the old google search?

Dylan [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

I am astounded by the fear of change in the comments. The current Google search page with it's embossed logo is dated and needs to updatee to compete with other search engines.

The new page is still simple and light-weight. It does not have all of the gradients, images, and colors that Bing has, which the commenters seem to think the new style is reminiscent of. And, the 151 pixel bar on the side is very unobtrusive, and if you choose not to use it will not even register to the user after he/she becomes accustomed to it (much like the ads which I barely notice anymore).

If you're tech savy enough to be looking at the new search, then you should easily be able to write a user script to keep the look/feel that you are so attached to.

If a company, even Google, does not rebrand and change they will fall behind.

George T [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

almost perfect! love it.. :)

Sandy Davidson [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

Didn't like it when I first tried but the next day when I loaded it up I felt up. I like the filters on the side. At first I had thought the sidebar was annoying but then I realised I was using it. Tasty.

John Moore [PersonRank 1]

14 years ago #


Change the logo back to the original and I might like it better I looks like the logo eat to many pies.

Cookie Lee [PersonRank 9]

14 years ago #

Tried it. It looks good on my computer, but I think they can:
   1. Make the left sidebar collapsible (as I said before);
   2. Use JavaScript to detect the size of the browser's window. If it's too small, hide the sidebar by default.

mavhc [PersonRank 1]

14 years ago #

Where are the links to answers.com for the keywords, how will I know if things are spelled correctly now?

Christian [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

the icons for filtering videos and images are not really meaningfull

greydaze [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

The "everything" sidebar is so annoying,At least give the user an option to turn the cluttering thing off.

undertuga [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

Hit there folks,

It's not working over here. Pasted the js source @ the url bar, logged out/logged in, and nothing changed! I'm using chrome, but alreasy tried with Firefox and some IE and still not working!

If you can help me out, please contact me: undertuga |at| gmail |dot| com

best regards

Thomas [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

MY EYES!!! *aaaaahhhhh*

it's glowing.....to much....light.... :-(

logo could be a little bit darker (specially the blue stuff at all)

Bongo [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

1- Open the new google, search for platypus.
2- Open a new tab, go to bing.com, search for platypus.
3- Compare both tabs.....

scary....

sebastian [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

the new look is awful, pls don't change the look of google -.-

Gamer_Z. [PersonRank 1]

14 years ago #

After using it a bit, it just does not feel Googley. The sidebar and big blue buttons make the interface feel unnecessarily cluttered.

Dave [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

How do you switch back? Am I doomed forever...?

WebSonic.nl [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

You are doomed forever :-). If you remove your cookies, or only the one from Google you should see the normal interface again.

NineNickle [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

Simply awful.

Bart S. [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

The icons are too mono-chromatic to add any value. They all look the same unless you concentrate at each of them individually and try to figure out what they represent. At this point they just add clutter.

I'm not a big fan of the sidebar either. I wouldn't use the links much more than I use the top tabs and I know everybody clicks into the "Images" and "Maps" tabs.

And what's up with the padding/margins around the logo, sidebar, addressbar, tab bar, search results? Nothing seems to line up with anything. All very inconsistent.

Aaron Davidson [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

As far as I know I have had this ability for quite awhile. Its neat especially when trying to google something specific.

[Signature removed – Tony]

Natasha K [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

It just looks more like Bing.

techsw [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

Before pasting the javascript,be sure that the address bar hols google.com and not any regional domain like www.google.co.uk.If so click go to google.com in the same page and then use.

A sample is here:
http://www.techsw.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Google-new-search-engine.jpg
http://www.techsw.com/google/what-is-new-in-the-google-new-search-engine

IHateThisNewDesign [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

Pretty UGLY!

Please Google, even if you implement this, leave the choice to the users to opt-out!

Thanks,

Dave [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

WebSonic.nl,

How do I remove these cookies from FF?

Dave [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

Got it, thanks!

Taylor James Thompson [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

OH MY GOD

This is freakin annoying! How the heck do we remove this garbage?

khaled Abou-Alfa [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

It's terrible, how do you remove this shit?

WebSonic.nl [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

http://blogoscoped.com/forum/163640.html#id164083

julius [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

Looks like Yahoo home page...

Alan [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

'''an overall cleaning up''' ?

I find this to be the opposite of that. Never mind my opinion; I'd love to hear what the general reaction within Google is. I can't really imagine it being overwhelmingly positive, but then again, *someone* designed this...

cheta [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

i like the old one, but i'm sure i can get used to this.

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