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New Google+ is beautiful?

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Re: New Google+ is beautiful?

#41

Post by jack-r-abbit »

thebear wrote: post #32
k-mcgrady wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can switchback to one column in the 'more' menu. >> "How do you read this, particularly in three-column mode, and be reasonably sure not to miss a post?" I think that might be your problem. Maybe Google doesn't think many people want to see every post in their stream. Personally I just skim through it and see what catches my eye. I much prefer this design (2 column, my 15" monitor apparently isn't large enough fo…

Given the fact that I can switch to one-column layout, I should probably shut up now. But just for the sake of a lively debate, let me say this: if I can't read the thing, I can't skim it either. I just don't know how to move my eyes around. Instead of skimming for the posts that I find important, I would end up making a random choice between things I see and things I overlook. But then perhaps that's fully intended…

I'm with you on that. If all blocks in a row were the same height, then a left-right-left scan would be just fine even at 3 or 4 columns. But this is not a left-right-left scan. It is a jaggy left-right-down-left-up-left-down. I never got past that enough with Pinterest to even try to find value in that site. I tolerate it on Facebook but really dislike it. If it had been like that when I first thought of joining Facebook, I may not have even bothered (at least until I was socially shamed for not having a Facebook). And now G+ has it. Oh well. I'll never get my money back for any of these service so they can keep moving my cheese I'll keep bitching about it. ;)

Re: New Google+ is beautiful?

#43

Post by ulyssesgrant »

thebear wrote: post #25

I commented earlier that I had a hard time figuring out the chronological order of the posts in the stream. I've learned since that Google doesn't want us to care about that. Fine, that's their prerogative. But now I have a new problem: I don't know how to read this thing at all. I can't read it "by column," that is, one column after the other, because it's infinite scroll. But I can't read it "by line" either, becau…

This is exactly how I feel about theverge.com's layout. Yes it's visually pleasing, but it's a huge pain to read compared to a single-column layout like engadget.com's

Re: New Google+ is beautiful?

#44

Post by kpanghmc »

thebear wrote: post #32
k-mcgrady wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can switchback to one column in the 'more' menu. >> "How do you read this, particularly in three-column mode, and be reasonably sure not to miss a post?" I think that might be your problem. Maybe Google doesn't think many people want to see every post in their stream. Personally I just skim through it and see what catches my eye. I much prefer this design (2 column, my 15" monitor apparently isn't large enough fo…

Given the fact that I can switch to one-column layout, I should probably shut up now. But just for the sake of a lively debate, let me say this: if I can't read the thing, I can't skim it either. I just don't know how to move my eyes around. Instead of skimming for the posts that I find important, I would end up making a random choice between things I see and things I overlook. But then perhaps that's fully intended…

Disclaimer: I work for Google.

For what it's worth, I felt the same way when I first dogfooded the new multi-column layout. I couldn't figure out how to read my stream. While reading a post, I kept getting distracted thinking about where I should focus my attention on next. It made scanning my stream more stressful and I was confident that I did not like it. This was before they added the option to switch to a single stream view, so I couldn't do much but submit my feedback and deal with it.

Then, one day, the G+ team added the option to switch back to single stream view. I thought "great!" and immediately went into G+ to switch back to single-stream mode. And I hated it. I hated having to scroll so much. I hated not being able to scan a large number of posts with a quick glance. I hated all the unused space on either side of the stream.

I'm not saying the same thing will happen to you, but maybe give it a week before giving up on it. You may just find that it grows on you.

Re: New Google+ is beautiful?

#45

Post by lee94josh »

I agree with the premise of this article. It looks "pretty", but I can't look at the page and easily navigate. While obviously part of the issue might be I'm not used to the new design, but there needs to be some kind of "intuitive" factor, right? But just my opinion obviously.

Re: New Google+ is beautiful?

#46

Post by zarify »

mayanksinghal wrote: post #17
thebear wrote: post #2

I find the two-column layout hard to deal with. I think I have figured out an algorithm for visually determining the chronological order of the posts, without having to read the timestamp in each post. But my algorithm requires considerable visual and intellectual effort. Is there an intuitive way to see the chronology of the posts? BTW, I'm not a huge fan of facebook's two-column layout either, but at least the arro…

You can use J/K to traverse through the stream in a chronological fashion. Not as quick is SPACE but the animations are a lot _cleaner_. You can also force a single column layout using the More button in top toolbar.

Thank you so much for pointing this out.

Multi column mode is actually usable for me now. Before I just couldn't make up my mind what to read next and it kinda screwed up my concentration, and single column had so much white space it was off-putting.

Re: New Google+ is beautiful?

#47

Post by cnp »

Anything designed around non-uniform rows and columns is immediately a no-no in my book. I was very pleased when Facebook reverted that change back to the single column

Re: New Google+ is beautiful?

#49

Post by LnxPrgr3 »

burke wrote: post #13

Everyone loves to dress it up with "facts" and "data", but I have always been and will continue to be confident in viewing these sorts of posts as barely-glorified change aversion. Three weeks from now everyone will prefer this iteration.

For what it's worth, they did similar things to the iOS app a good while ago and I still haven't gotten used to it. It's profoundly wasteful of my 4" of screen real-estate.

I never got used to Facebook's timeline either before they had the (IMO) good sense to put the wall back into a single column.

Change aversion is a real thing, but not every new change is actually a good idea. My feeling is there's a lot of legitimate bad idea in this redesign.

But you know how opinions go…

Re: New Google+ is beautiful?

#50

Post by thebear »

kpanghmc wrote: post #44
thebear wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given the fact that I can switch to one-column layout, I should probably shut up now. But just for the sake of a lively debate, let me say this: if I can't read the thing, I can't skim it either. I just don't know how to move my eyes around. Instead of skimming for the posts that I find important, I would end up making a random choice between things I see and things I overlook. But then perhaps that's fully intended…

Disclaimer: I work for Google. For what it's worth, I felt the same way when I first dogfooded the new multi-column layout. I couldn't figure out how to read my stream. While reading a post, I kept getting distracted thinking about where I should focus my attention on next. It made scanning my stream more stressful and I was confident that I did not like it. This was before they added the option to switch to a single…

First off, I admit that I am hypersensitive to any form of bastardization of language. So please don't hate me for I'm going to say, I'm just a victim of my hypersensitivities. But: the word "stream" in the English language means "a steady flow or succession." Or, if you prefer the CS definition, it means "a sequence of data elements made available over time." When I'm looking at a set of boxes of different heights arranged in three columns with no apparent ordering, then I'm not looking at a stream. As other commenters have pointed out, the multi-column layout is more than a different way of displaying things. It redefines the entire experience of receiving posts as something different, something Pinterest-like. Maybe that's a good idea. But please, let's don't call it a stream.
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