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Google backtracks on search results design

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Re: Google backtracks on search results design

#121
Can you also tell Google to fix the image search page? The new design is stupid. I prefer the previous design.

The new design splits the page vertically, when you click on a picture. And its purpose, which is quite confusing, is to follow a second track of searches related to that picture.

But that just makes the usage confusing. I want to click on the picture in order to see it in magnification mode, to have it fill the browser window. This was the prior design. It worked perfectly, and allowed me to quickly see the picture I want, in a magnified mode.

But instead, with the new design, it opens the picture on the 2nd split screen, but the picture is practically the same size.

And to make matters worse, some of the pictures, like if they are portrait mode, does not magnify, so it makes it very difficult to see the details of the picture. I’d have to open up the source picture in another tab.

Someone must’ve thought this was a good idea, but to be honest, it sucks.

And also, the split screens with dual scrolling behaviors, is incredibly frustrating to use. Half the time, I’m scrolling on the wrong half of the page.

The image search is now such a frustrating experience, that I try to use other search engines for a better experience.

Re: Google backtracks on search results design

#122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing like this is going to happen. Google Search is leaps and bounds ahead beyond anything else. And Google Assistant on top of this makes it even more effective. This was a mistake by Google and they heard the feedback and corrected it. MySpace analogy doesn't make sense since there is no Facebook, which was a competent social network, here. Search is a massive investment and you don't just have random companies…

I disagree about search result quality. I switched to DDG over a year ago and only need to use !g bangs when I search either for some specific local stuff or when I search for news that have happened in the last day or two. Actually, in some cases DDG gives more relevant search results than Google, especially for programming stuff.

+1 for having zero issues at all with using DDG as my daily driver, I only use Google for some local searches and currency conversions. DDG results have improved every year even as Google's have gotten much worse.

Edit: just realized that DDG does currency conversion too, there's one less class of searches that goes to Google!

Re: Google backtracks on search results design

#123
post #110
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect you greatly underestimate how much the average person didn't really care here. In the moment, yeah, this matters - but Google still beats DDG for certain classes of results and people go where the easiest experience is. I say this as a user of DDG. ;P

People don’t really compare that hard. If DDG’s experience is intuitively easier than Google’s in the first minutes (because there are no ads and results are good enough), people will switch. The real problem is the “embedness” level of Google is much higher than any search engine achieved before: a switcher must make a pretty serious effort to change browser settings, change tools etc, and you can bet top dollars th…

I've just checked the "there are no ads on DDG" and saw half of the content space taken by Wikipedia-sourced infobox, half by ad, searching for "insurance". Interestingly enough, Google shows me no ads for the same query (whole screen of local maps, then related queries, then organic results). "Car insurance" though ;)

Disclaimer: I do work in Google, but nowhere near anything user visible (I'm developing SRE infrastructure).

Re: Google backtracks on search results design

#124

This may be a major event in Google's history - the point where they overdid ads and started to be perceived as a inferior service. This is sometimes called "pulling a Myspace". Myspace was once the top social network. They looked unchallengeable. Then they got greedy. Myspace kept upping their ad content until usage dropped. Instead of backing off the ads, they upped the ad content even more to maintain revenue. Usa…

Nothing like this is going to happen. Google Search is leaps and bounds ahead beyond anything else. And Google Assistant on top of this makes it even more effective. This was a mistake by Google and they heard the feedback and corrected it. MySpace analogy doesn't make sense since there is no Facebook, which was a competent social network, here. Search is a massive investment and you don't just have random companies…

I hear that a lot, but search results differ for me between Bing and DDG. Bing is definitely a major component of its results, but I doubt it’s the only part.

Re: Google backtracks on search results design

#125
I just switched to Edge and Bing (Will do DDG in the near future) and I'm not looking back. Edge is very snappy and crisp compared to Chrome. Bing doesn't show tons of ads as the top links. I wonder if Google noticed many people like me switching and became concerned.

Edit: Edge operates just like Chrome. Microsoft has made a better Chrome with less memory usage.

Re: Google backtracks on search results design

#126

Can you also tell Google to fix the image search page? The new design is stupid. I prefer the previous design. The new design splits the page vertically, when you click on a picture. And its purpose, which is quite confusing, is to follow a second track of searches related to that picture. But that just makes the usage confusing. I want to click on the picture in order to see it in magnification mode, to have it fill…

What's much worse is they removed the precise and custom image size search. It's now impossible to search for a 32x32 icon or a 3200x1800 wallpaper. This dumbing down and feature removal is sad and silly.

Re: Google backtracks on search results design

#127

This may be a major event in Google's history - the point where they overdid ads and started to be perceived as a inferior service. This is sometimes called "pulling a Myspace". Myspace was once the top social network. They looked unchallengeable. Then they got greedy. Myspace kept upping their ad content until usage dropped. Instead of backing off the ads, they upped the ad content even more to maintain revenue. Usa…

Nothing like this is going to happen. Google Search is leaps and bounds ahead beyond anything else. And Google Assistant on top of this makes it even more effective. This was a mistake by Google and they heard the feedback and corrected it. MySpace analogy doesn't make sense since there is no Facebook, which was a competent social network, here. Search is a massive investment and you don't just have random companies…

> Google Search is leaps and bounds ahead beyond anything else.

Nothing is too big to fail. If there's no direct competitor, an indirect one or a group could take over too.

> Duckduckgo itself uses Bing Search as its backend.

This reads to me as if Bing was the only backend they use, which isn't the case. According to Wikipedia they use multiple backends:

"DuckDuckGo's results are a compilation of "over 400" sources, including Yahoo! Search BOSS, Wolfram Alpha, Bing, Yandex, its own Web crawler (the DuckDuckBot) and others. It also uses data from crowdsourced sites, including Wikipedia, to populate knowledge panel boxes to the right of the results.", source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DuckDuckGo#Overview

Re: Google backtracks on search results design

#130

Can you also tell Google to fix the image search page? The new design is stupid. I prefer the previous design. The new design splits the page vertically, when you click on a picture. And its purpose, which is quite confusing, is to follow a second track of searches related to that picture. But that just makes the usage confusing. I want to click on the picture in order to see it in magnification mode, to have it fill…

Google was sued by Getty and had to make the change. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/02/internet-rages-after...
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