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Google Has Dropped Google Instant Search

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141–150 of 166 posts

Re: Google Has Dropped Google Instant Search

#142
post #57

I hated the "instantness" of Instant Search but loved the keyboard shortcuts which seem to have disappeared. I used TAB and the arrow keys to select a search result and Ctrl+Enter to open the result in a new tab. It is very, very sad that it is no longer possible to use those.

Yes to me it is insane that Google doesn't provide native keyboard shortcuts (at least make it an option) for the search results page. It is available on Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive, etc. Why not Google search??

Re: Google Has Dropped Google Instant Search

#143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate the idea of moving elements around the entire window after I've started using them. I don't want to use the address bar as a search bar, but the overall problem is from a UX standpoint - you start typing into a textbox, and it vanishes/moves into the address bar. That's like starting to turn a knob on a door and your hand is suddenly somewhere else, like down near the bottom of the door or near the top. It's i…

This seems to be the "new tab/page" box which every browser does, moving from center of page to address bar. You can easily switch to a different new page or use the address bar from the beginning.

I know that, because that's what I do. But my point is, I shouldn't have to know how to 'hack' around the browser just to use a textbox. That's really inferior UX design. I shouldn't even be thinking about any of that, I should be thinking about what the Google results are, not how to use Google.

Re: Google Has Dropped Google Instant Search

#144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why don't you like it?

I hate the idea of moving elements around the entire window after I've started using them. I don't want to use the address bar as a search bar, but the overall problem is from a UX standpoint - you start typing into a textbox, and it vanishes/moves into the address bar. That's like starting to turn a knob on a door and your hand is suddenly somewhere else, like down near the bottom of the door or near the top. It's i…

[deleted]

Re: Google Has Dropped Google Instant Search

#145
post #131

Meanwhile at google: A: "We could save hundreds of millions in hardware resources if we disabled instant search." B: "But we might lose money if we don't show as many ads. OH WAIT..." The guy did a search and realized that the suggestion menu overlaps on the top of the page, where the ads are displayed. He then tried to click the ad and he couldn't because the ad results changed the moment he moved his cursor away fr…

I was intrigued that nobody was talking about the revenue effect of the removal of Instant Search. Obviously they did it because of this.

I'm pretty sure they turned on Instant Search in 2010 in order to serve more ads not fewer.

The extra load due to this feature was not insignificant. I heard it was the equivalent of an entire datacenter.

Re: Google Has Dropped Google Instant Search

#146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems to be the "new tab/page" box which every browser does, moving from center of page to address bar. You can easily switch to a different new page or use the address bar from the beginning.

I know that, because that's what I do. But my point is, I shouldn't have to know how to 'hack' around the browser just to use a textbox. That's really inferior UX design. I shouldn't even be thinking about any of that, I should be thinking about what the Google results are, not how to use Google.

What are you hacking around? Why not just use the address bar all the time?

Re: Google Has Dropped Google Instant Search

#147
post #41

Thank God. This feature has been the bane of my Google existence. I often want to hit backspace to go back a page, but because their search bar steals my focus, I instead remove a letter or two and perform a search again. I have never, not once, found this feature to be useful. Who doesn't type faster than they can read a page of results?

Removal of instant shouldn't change the behavior of the search bar's focusing. I haven't noticed what your'e talking about, though.

@bcoates claims that it will. I assumed it would because the whole 'steal your focus' thing was implemented at the same time iirc.

Re: Google Has Dropped Google Instant Search

#148
post #19
post #16

Does this mean we can regain the backspace-to-go-back that's been everywhere since forever, but was killed by Chrome because of instant search?

IIRC backspace-to-go-back was not killed because of instant search, it was killed because users kept going back when they didn't mean to, because they thought they were typing in a text box and weren't.

That's right, but it incidentally also meant google saw it fit to highjack backspace to not mean go back in any browser when on google.com, and just use it to remove characters from the search box, regardless of whether or not it's focused. The end result is that using backspace in browsers that do support it, such as safari, is now broken whenever google is part of that tab's history. If instant is removed, then there's little need to keep this bit of annoying code I'd think.

I probably could have been clearer in my original comment, my apologies.

Re: Google Has Dropped Google Instant Search

#149

Whenever I see "Google Instant" reference, I get always chuckle because I swear that two of my friends and I actually invented it back in '09 for a Yahoo sponsored Hackathon. I clearly remember one day logging onto my machine, going to google to search for something and just sitting there with my jaw on the ground as the "instant" feature began searching as I typed. I must've sat there for at least 5 minutes. I then…

I had instant search on documentation files in ... 1991. And I'm fairly sure I wasn't the first to think of that either. Just because you think you think of something 'first' doesn't mean you really are the first and doesn't mean that your idea is being ripped off by others, most likely they were totally unaware of 'your' idea, just like they were unaware of mine. Most of these are obvious anyway.

Fair enough.

Re: Google Has Dropped Google Instant Search

#150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know that, because that's what I do. But my point is, I shouldn't have to know how to 'hack' around the browser just to use a textbox. That's really inferior UX design. I shouldn't even be thinking about any of that, I should be thinking about what the Google results are, not how to use Google.

What are you hacking around? Why not just use the address bar all the time?

then why putting an input area in the middle of the page with inviting prompt "search google or type url"? simple act of entering search terms and pressing Enter button - instead turns into a mental game of "if it is a brand new search, then search terms will appear in url bar no matter where i type them; when search results come, my search terms will be copied to the input box on the page and later can be edited there". sorry, this is just plain stupid. sounds like an executive design, no normal developer would come up with this crap.
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