Google is running yet another design test on their homepage currently. With the frequency of layout changes increasing, it feels as if the search giant does not really know what they really want anymore. As of right now, at least two designs are life for all users. First the single button menu interface with a gray header area, and then the black bar.
Yesterday a third design was spotted that combines the black bar with the menu structure of the single menu bar.
The new bar displays Google’s most popular services directly again on the bar for quick access. The More link leads to additional services. Users of the gray bar design will notice that the black bar has been moved on top of the design. Everything else, with the exception of the Google logo menu has remained the same.
The Google Operating System blog has posted instructions on how to enable the new Google bar design.
- Open google.com in your web browser of choice.
- In Google Chrome, press Ctrl-Shift-J
- In Mozilla Firefox press Ctrl-Shift-K
- In Internet Explorer press F12 and select console
- Paste the following code into the form
document.cookie="PREF=ID=381502750b6e9119:U=aaee74aefea7315a:FF=0:LD=en:CR=2:TM=1328391998:LM=1328392000:S=yPtlCgLbEnezu5b4; path=/; domain=.google.com";window.location.reload();
- Press enter and close the console again.
- Local users need to replace the domain in the information (google.com) with the country code domain, e.g. (google.de)
The page should refresh automatically, and you should see the new layout on the Google page. Please note that it will only be active for as long as the cookie remains on your system.
Users who want to return to the old Google homepage layout can repeat the steps, by loading the following code in the console.
document.cookie="PREF=; path=/; domain=.google.com";window.location.reload();
My personal opinion? Google should give users more choice when it comes to the services that are displayed on the homepage. I’m for instance not using Google News, so why should it be there that prominently on the page? Google furthermore needs to select a design and stick with it, instead of confusing users with different designs and layouts. Some users, depending on the browser they use to access Google, have reported that they are seeing different layouts on the same computer.
What’s your take on this, and what’s your favorite bar so far?
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