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Hey Google, I want my cache links back

jacquesmattheij.com

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Re: Hey Google, I want my cache links back

#161

Post by colanderman »

ellyagg wrote: post #106
wgx wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, more than visual cruft (although I would argue there is more of that than before) - it's interaction cruft. Big annoyances for me: 1. Auto suggesting and searching for words I didn't mean - common with technical phrases 2. Ignoring "quoted terms" and searching for them as an AND instead 3. Auto refreshing the results page as I modify my terms - it makes the experience slower, and I don't need to see results f…

I can't scroll the page with the up/down arrows. It don't get why no one mentions this. Sometimes I'm afraid they're targeting just me. Is it really the right trade-off to steal the arrow key to scroll the results with a cursor? Who uses that feature? Leave my arrows alone.

Better still, my browser has that feature (ctrl+arrows to navigate links instead of scrolling). This feature of Google's brings zero benefit to me.

Re: Hey Google, I want my cache links back

#162

Post by 5hoom »

rhizome wrote: post #102
ugh wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, they are not. Only if Google can’t find anything – which makes a lot of sense.

Only if Google can’t find anything – which makes a lot of sense. For me it doesn't, and it violates the Law of Demeter. If there are no results, tell me. Don't make me waste time wondering if any of the results have what I'm looking for, since there is no indication that the results I'm receiving are ancillary. Treating your users like they're idiots is evil.

Couldn't agree more.

No matches _is_ a result. I don't go use a search engine because I must click on a link, any link. I go there to find _relevant_ information. If there isn't any, tell me & I can get on with my day.

Re: Hey Google, I want my cache links back

#163

Post by rhizome »

patio11 wrote: post #145
rhizome wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only if Google can’t find anything – which makes a lot of sense. For me it doesn't, and it violates the Law of Demeter. If there are no results, tell me. Don't make me waste time wondering if any of the results have what I'm looking for, since there is no indication that the results I'm receiving are ancillary. Treating your users like they're idiots is evil.

But users are, on average, demonstrably ... not as savvy as search engineers as to the optimal way to operate their search engines.

Even so, we are all forced to use it at that level.

Re: Hey Google, I want my cache links back

#164

Post by BrandonM »

thaumaturgy wrote: post #138
epi0Bauqu wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's concerning! I'd really appreciate if you could collect a set of specific examples and report at http://duckduckgo.com/feedback.html That's how we improve fastest. But generally, the way we get results shouldn't result in a lot of stuff actually missing, which may speak to some bugs in there.

I've been noticing the same pattern -- the results from DDG aren't quite complete enough. Sometimes, it's just missing a few minor things, other times, I'll run a search query and there will be a major search result that I know is missing, that I can get in one of the top 5 results from Google. Which sucks, because I hands-down full-on no-buts prefer DDG's interface to Google. I hope I'm not being uncool here, but a…

Since we can't see vote counts anymore, I just want to chime in and say I agree. As a previous DDG user, I feel much the same way. And mining !g sounds like a great idea, though there might be some privacy issues to deal with (I'm imagining a dedicated DDG user who wants to Google his name).

Re: Hey Google, I want my cache links back

#165

Post by jodrellblank »

pie wrote: post #90
guelo wrote: post #23

Another thing that has been annoying me lately is that it seems like like I have to add a + in front of every word or Google might decide without any indication that it will completely ignore it.

Accurate results for technical topics brought me to Google, and all the extra query formatting that's required these days is somewhat irritating. Another peeve is that the search box on the results page (with Instant disabled) routinely drops input or moves the insertion point.

The second isn't just a Google problem, all sorts of software with autocomplete / move-the-cursor-for-me items has problems with just accepting what I type and not fucking around with it.

Typically breaking backspace, or filling in unwanted trailing information, but often worse.

Re: Hey Google, I want my cache links back

#166

Post by iskander »

yesimahuman wrote: post #75
ars wrote: post #4

This does not bode well for the employees at google. You get extra features like this (instant preview) when you have too much manpower - you look for things for your employees to do. But if your customers don't want it, and you can't find anything else for them to do then you start reducing the workforce.

Instant preview had "Bing fear" written all over it. Probably the biggest feature on Google Search that I found the least use for. I don't understand why Google feels the need to play catch up to Bing.

From my short experience as an intern and much longer experience being friends with several google folks: Bing fear is a disease inside Google. They've done a large number of unreasonable things because Microsoft was looming large on some manager's mind.

Re: Hey Google, I want my cache links back

#167

Post by corin_ »

jannes wrote: post #37

Just google for cache:http://www.example.com/ and it will take you directly to the cached site. This is particularly nice in combination with Chrome's omnibar where you just have to prepend "cache:" before the current URL, hit return, and it will automatically show the cached version of the page you are viewing.

Also a bookmarklet to go to the Google cache of a URL you are currently on:

  javascript:window.open("http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:"+encodeURIComponent(location.href))
(Credit goes to somebody else on HN a while back, can't remember who it was though.)

Re: Hey Google, I want my cache links back

#168

Post by xiaomai »

stordoff wrote: post #156
william42 wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't Google incredibly famous for their dedication to A/B testing?

A/B/N testing from what I heard. One of the examples I know of it that they split the users into about ten groups, and very slightly changed the blue hyperlink colour between them. They found that even a slight variation made a difference to the click-through rate.

I've had this same experience at work. I've complained about how ugly some features of our sites are on several occasions, only to learn that they are that way because the ugly (version/size/whatever) performed so much better than the others in our tests.

Other times the differences are subtle but increase the click-through rate by surprising amounts.

Re: Hey Google, I want my cache links back

#169

Post by franze »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #152
bradleyland wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cool trick. Completely fails at discoverability though.

Caches are kind of a touchy subject. I have no information that they are, but I would not be surprised if Google was inexorably moving toward a 'no user accessible cache' policy. The reasoning is pretty simple, people push things they don't mean too, then they 'fix' it, but if the GoogleBot was in the area your 'fix' may not be as durable as you hoped. Recent examples are iPhone 5 leaks on carrier sites, mis-priced s…
or
renders the google cache "user inaccessible"

Re: Hey Google, I want my cache links back

#170

Post by Confusion »

rhizome wrote: post #102
ugh wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, they are not. Only if Google can’t find anything – which makes a lot of sense.

Only if Google can’t find anything – which makes a lot of sense. For me it doesn't, and it violates the Law of Demeter. If there are no results, tell me. Don't make me waste time wondering if any of the results have what I'm looking for, since there is no indication that the results I'm receiving are ancillary. Treating your users like they're idiots is evil.

There usually is a very clear indication right at the top of the page, informing you that the search yielded no results and that it is showing results for a different search.
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