[Sigia-l] Google's new home page

[Jayson Elliot]

I think it's important to keep in mind the segmentation of users we're
looking at.

Of the total number of search results generated by Google, a significant
portion are initiated somewhere other than Google.com - those include
browser toolbars, the countless Google search boxes embedded in other web
sites, and the affiliate pages such as the Mozilla Firefox Start Page (
http://www.google.com/firefox), the Dell Start Page (
http://www.google.com/ig/dell), Gateway (http://www.google.com/ig/gateway),
and of course, the address bar of Google's own Chrome browser.

I would suggest that the fact that users are searching directly from
Google.com and not from a search toolbar demonstrates generally (though not
automatically) a lower "expertise" or level of "power user" with the web
overall.

These users may, in fact, find it easier to be faced with only one action
that can be performed on Google.com. If the user simply begins typing and
does not move their mouse into the browser, they will not see any
distracting links.

If they do move their mouse, the links appear as a result of a user action,
which is less confusing than if they were to appear on their own, as they
were a few weeks (months?) ago when Google began slowly rolling out this
homepage design.

The prime reason that I don't see a problem with the "distraction" of the
extra links appearing is that the typical mouse path a user will travel from
address bar to Google search bar has no links in its way, meaning there is a
minimal chance of accidental clicks or cognitive interrupts.

If you think of Google as an application, rather than a web site (which is
becoming a rather academic distinction as time goes on), it makes perfect
sense for it to have only a single option on its home page.

If anything, it's a wonderful middle finger to Microsoft's Bing, with their
"more is more" philosophy of home pages.





On Thu, Dec 3, 2009 at 6:14 PM, martin.fietkiewicz at gmail.com <
martin.fietkiewicz at gmail.com> wrote:

> As I put my "average impatient user" hat (or imagine my parents doing
> this),
> my first impression is that it makes no sense to have it revealed when I
> move the mouse.  Yes, the cursor is already inside the search box, but a
> lot
> of users at first will want to move the cursor to the box and click inside
> it instead of just starting to type as soon as they see the logo.  So the
> fade-in becomes a distraction as opposed to a reliable constant
> sidebar/menu-bar.  I suppose we'll get used to it, but it does seem
> superfluous in that Web2.0MG sort of way.
>
> Martin
>
>
> 2009/12/3 Jonathan Baker-Bates <jonathan at bakerbates.com>
>
> > What do we think?
> >
> > http://tinyurl.com/yfxdjnl
> >
> > I can see where they are coming from ("Keep it simple! Less is more!"),
> > but I don't understand why they've actually done it unless there's some
> > business benefit for them. They seem to be assuming that because people
> > know about the links in the top left and the submit buttons, etc. they
> > can be initially hidden from view for the sake of some more of that
> > atavistic "simplicity."
> >
> > Doesn't this have a rather obvious problem though? Hiding things from
> > view can be OK if you allow them to be revealed by an explicit action
> > (eg a "see more" link), but if that action is potentially associated
> > with doing something *else* (like preparing to type into a field) then
> > you're effectively ensuring that they will never be seen. This is
> > particularly true if you look down at the keyboard when you start
> > typing.
> >
> > Or am I at the wrong level here? Are they going to use this technique to
> > emphasise new stuff instead? New Google Labs features and exhortations
> > to download Chrome could therefore get prime position before the reveal,
> > for instance.
> >
> > I wonder though. It feels to me a bit like the BBC's ill-fated "Glass
> > Wall" design for their home page a number of years ago. Seemed like a
> > great idea at first...
> >
> > Either way, as a discreet bit of interaction design, it'll be
> > interesting to see how widely it will be copied, and to what effect (and
> > fun to spot the cargo cults along the way).
> >
> > Jonathan
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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