Google’s recent experiment with changing the layout policy for its search engine didn’t last long. As most of you will have noticed, there was a brief period (less than a day) during which we had some pretty flashy images taking up the space around Google’s search box. And then, like a bad dream, it all went away and we were left with a strange sense of confusion as to whether it had really happened, or if we’d imagined it.
Well, judging by the amount of negative feedback Google’s backgrounds attracted on forums and blogs, I doubt that many will lament the technical problem which supposedly prompted Google to remove the feature. However, what has been most interesting for me during this episode is Simon Jary’s insight over at PC advisor.
In a nutshell, Jary points out that, while Google has lost very little in this episode (the ‘bug’ excuse seems to be saving face pretty well so far), other competitors who also feature similar backgrounds and have done so for some time – most notably Microsoft’s Bing, have had their design approach indirectly, but quite loudly, admonished by the blogosphere. And it’s not like they can suddenly go to a clean interface right after Google’s experiment without anyone noticing, having had the lively backgrounds for some time now.
Anyway, I’m not pushing any sort of conspiracy theory here – indeed I suppose we’ll never know exactly what Google were thinking throughout this little experiment with their interface, but the real curiosity is simply the manner in which surprising consequences can emerge from even the most trivial little things – such as the fact that, as a result of all this, much of the discussion is now, rather unluckily for Bing, centred on their own engine interface.
Dejan Levi