Boooooo Google™

I used Google™ Image search today for the first time in a few weeks and I discovered that Google™ Image Search Has a Cleaner Look as of (January 23rd). Google™ claims¹ this is a good thing. I strongly disagree.

I've been a Google™ fan for a long time. I even recently started using their custom Google™ Home Page feature to collect feeds from various sites I like so that I can see handy previews of all of them in one spot.

This is the first instance I can recall where Google™ made what is clearly a serious step backward (in my eyes anyway). Their idea of a "cleaner look" is to eliminate useful info from the results page of an image search. Now they only show thumbnail images and brief relevant keyword captions. They used to also show the root page of the source URL for each image as well as the size of each image, both in pixels (width x height) and actual bytes of storage. Now you only get that info one image at a time as you hover your mouse pointer over each thumbnail area.

When I do image searches it's often so that I can find a usable image to link to either here in my blog or elsewhere on some forums I frequent. Part of deciding if an image is usable is knowing it’s size (both in pixels and bytes) and, to a lesser extent, exactly what website hosts it (better to refer to official sites, than sites having nothing to do with whatever subject is at hand).

The old image search results page layout allowed me to see that info for all pics at once (other than maybe having to scroll the screen a little, but not much). Now I have to waste time mousing all over the screen to see the attributes of each pic one at a time, while trying to remember which other pics might have had a slightly better size for whatever purpose I have in mind (a larger pixel area is not necessarily a plus).

The change in functionality is obviously bad, but it's compounded by the fact that they foisted this change upon users without so much much as a simple link to a notice announcing the change. At first I thought maybe something had gone wrong with my PC and messed up how things were displaying. I had a friend confirm, though, that his system displayed image search results the same way, so I then knew it wasn't just me. (And by the way, he says he doesn't mind the change, that it's no big deal to him and he kind of likes the new look—but he’s wrong. He obviously doesn't do many image searches or doesn't have the same needs as I do when he does.)

Next I wasted a few hours trying to search through Google™ help pages and numerous Google™-related blog pages for any info. Finally, I ended up doing a general Google™ Web search on some key phrase regarding their change in image search display results and came across the link about the "cleaner look" (which I listed above) at the Google™ Operating System (!?) blog. That entry also mentions that you can get the old image results look back by disabling JavaScript in your browser. OK, but how do I know I don't need JavaScript enabled for other web pages to work? (And they don't give step-by-step instructions on exactly how to disable JavaScript either and I think they should.)

That blog entry then linked to a followup one, Getting the Old Google™ Image Search Back, which explains a method of getting the old more informative results back by turning off JavaScript for just Google™. I tried this and it seems to work, but it has one minor drawback in that you must list Google™ Image search as a restricted website (and change a couple options for such sites) which then means you can no longer adjust your Google™ preferences for the page. To do so, it appears you must un-restrict the site, change the option, then re-restrict it. Annoying.

I wouldn't mind the change so much if: A) they had announced it so that people would be alerted to it from the start instead of just foisting it upon everyone on the assumption that it's a wonderful change, and B) they had implemented it via an option setting in preferences which users could then turn back to "classic look" if they don't like the new version.

Scenario 'A' would have probably generated more timely and representative feedback and thus would have more accurately indicated to Google™ whether people like the change or not. That's probably why they didn’t go with option 'A.' Option 'A' also would ensure users do not think (as I initially did) that there might be something wrong with their PCs, thus possibly spurring them into mucking about trying to "fix" the problem. As for scenario 'B' I have no idea whether that's even feasible or not, but if it isn't then my preference would have been that they just leave well enough alone and not change something that worked fine, but obviously they didn't consult with me.

I only hope that many people complain in ways that get the attention of Google™ such that they end up reverting to the old style results page. Although I would hope that as a company they would have done extensive testing of the change before official release, gathering users' feedback and, if so, then I doubt they will reconsider the matter.

Yahoo! Image search displays results much like the old Google™ Image results page, so at least there's a usable alternative.

I just cannot understand how anyone at Google™ would think it a good idea to remove useful information from search results simply to make things look "clean." The search results looked fine before and you could see all pertinent info at a glance—there was nothing wrong with it and therefore nothing to "fix."

So to Google™ I say this: "Boooooooooooo..."

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¹ Actually, the Google™ Operating System blog where I found all this info specifically mentions that it is a site for "Unofficial news and tips about Google™" and, as stated at the very bottom of each page, it is "Not affiliated with Google™." Still, there must be some sort of very close relationship between the two online entities.