My friend Ty pointed out to me today that Google has changed the interface of
Google Images, and not necessarily for the better. While the old results display for Google Images searches showed a thumbnail of each image along with the host's domain name, the image's dimensions, and a short description (taken from the image's context on the site). Now Google Images only shows the short description unless you move your mouse over one of the thumbnails. For me, this makes the service significantly less intuitive. If I'm looking for, say, a logo that's a certain size, I want to be able to see each image's dimensions at a glance, but with the new interface I have to roll my mouse over each and every one until I find one that's the right size. Similarly, being able to see the hosts of all of the images was handy, especially if you noticed that many of them are served by the same host. But now it's like a puzzle, moving your mouse around until you find what you're looking for.
I'm not sure if this new interface is showing up for all users, as Google is in the habit of testing new interfaces on a small cross section of users, but either way I hope this is an interface change they reconsider. What do you think of the update?
Tags: google, google images, GoogleImages, image search, images, ImageSearch, interface, update
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Comments
28
Subscribe to commentsj. adamJan 24th 2007 4:55PM
weird. that does seem pretty counter-intuitive. i wonder why they think this is an improvement.
RickJan 24th 2007 3:38PM
yeah it changed for me. the new face is much more polished and clean looking but at the expense of functionality to us more acquainted users... i like to know that my search for "fat chicks in party hats" comes from respectable and educational .edu sources, as my company frowns upon fat chicks. or maybe its party hats... either way one more strike from HR and i'll never get my bathroom privileges back...
rojaroJan 24th 2007 3:34PM
Really a bad improvement.
maryJan 24th 2007 4:10PM
Personally, I like the new uncluttered look. Much cleaner, without the information that I never looked at anyways.
kingkool68Jan 24th 2007 4:33PM
Great news! You can restore the old functionality by simply disabling JavaScript.
BrianJan 24th 2007 4:56PM
I've got it also here in Central Florida. I don't like it. I don't like having to drag the mouse all over the page to get the information I need. I have to be careful where I leave the mouse on the page so that something I'm not interested in is highlighted.
mark BowmanJan 24th 2007 4:53PM
Please complain to Google about this. comments@google.com
In the meantime you can use Yahoo Image search if needed.
ShibathedogJan 24th 2007 6:48PM
i noticed this too, it does suck, there was something else i noticed that they changed too, but i cant remember what it was atm, it was really minor compared to this though.
Brian PeirisJan 24th 2007 5:07PM
It looks like they're just trying to put as many images in the visible area as possible.
The javascript adds reflow, so that there can be more than 4 images per row (useful for wide screens).
And the mouseover info sometimes overlaps the image below it, so more rows per screen too.
KatJan 24th 2007 5:10PM
Ugh, I hate it for exactly the reasons you mentioned.
Gil CrequeJan 24th 2007 5:15PM
I just ran into the same issue. I thought I accidentally installed a Greasemonkey script but had my coworkers check their computers. It certainly seems to be a useless update.
FabuloJan 24th 2007 5:14PM
I noticed here yesterday when I cringed at the blue rectangle following the tracking of the mouse. That's counterintuitive and distracting.
Can I be allowed to look where the mouse pointer is not?
Only if you don;t mind that blue box jumping around just at the edge of you field of view.
This one is a winner. Almost as good as the new yahoo tv grid interface.
01Jan 24th 2007 5:32PM
wow, that is pretty terrible.... I agree, there are countless reasons to be able to see the dimensions and other info for pics on google image search; for them to remove that will make image searching more annoying than it should be. We've seen what you can do google, why the step backwards?
HuwJan 24th 2007 5:45PM
It's here in the UK too. I hate it for all the above reasons. Emailing Google...
EvanJan 24th 2007 5:54PM
They've been testing this for a while, I think....
KeevesJan 24th 2007 6:56PM
I'm hoping customizegoogle, for firefox, should sort this out soon, and restore the previous functionality (or even better if google put it back to the way it was!!).
Like all the other post i am not liking this new 'feature' one bit.
markJan 25th 2007 1:00AM
i did notice today but i really didn't even think about it till i read this article. it was nice seeing the resolution before so you can pick out nice large pictures. you guys are right. and if one picture on a broken link doesn't work, you don't know how many of the pictures are going to work right away. that is kind of a pain in the arse.
RonJan 24th 2007 8:16PM
You should check out Imagery (http://elzr.com/imagery). It is a wrapper for Google Image Search. It addresses every single issue you just mentioned about the new Google Image Search, and adds some really great functionality on top of it.
westudiJan 24th 2007 9:46PM
Yeah, I hate the change.
Jaya SchillingerJan 25th 2007 12:25AM
I noticed that today too. My thought was that it was a pain because I couldn't see the image host's website at a glance. When I snag an image, I try to follow copyrright rules, as well as avoid clicking on potentially spammy websites. I totally hate the new mouse-over interface.