An unofficial blog that watches Google's attempts to move your operating system online since 2005. Not affiliated with Google.

Send your tips to gostips@gmail.com.

July 10, 2008

Google News Tests New Design

Google News experiments with a lively and visually-rich design that shows images, videos, quotes, but also interesting and popular stories. There's a "featured photo" section that uses images from AFP, The Associated Press, Reuters, marking the first time when Google News promotes stories just because it has the permission to show associated images.

If you are logged in, the new interface personalizes all the sections, not just the front page, and you can switch to the non-personalized version to see the differences.

The homepage shows a list of "developing stories".


The Sci-Tech section, with more photos.


Front-page sections can be minimized and look like iGoogle gadgets.


Google News clusters prominently display the main title.


The footer is more lighthearted. "All the news that's fit to crawl. Auto-generated from over 4500 news sources, void where prohibited."

In June, Google News blog announced the new UI, without getting into details. "Over the course of the next few weeks, you may notice a few changes to Google News... or maybe not. You see, we'll be running some experiments on the look and feel of our site, based on an accumulation of user research and feedback, as well as the evolving state of online journalism."

{ Thnaks, Santosh. }
Posted by at
Labels:

15 comments:

  1. AnonymousJuly 10, 2008 at 8:18 AM

    Ew. Only 4500 sources? No wonder they are always behind on the news.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Alex ChituJuly 10, 2008 at 8:24 AM

    I think Google News has more than 4500 sources, but this number is much bigger than the number of sources for Yahoo News.

    ReplyDelete
  3. SantoshJuly 10, 2008 at 8:29 AM

    you are welcome.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousJuly 10, 2008 at 8:39 AM

    More news to light readers like me.. hoho

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousJuly 10, 2008 at 9:43 AM

    Where's the archive? PLEASE don't get rid of the archive.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Alex ChituJuly 10, 2008 at 10:33 AM

    News archive is available at: http://www.google.com/archivesearch.

    ReplyDelete
  7. DaidalosJuly 11, 2008 at 7:34 AM

    I've had the new layout for several days. It's HORRIBLE. I have to scroll all over the place, and seem to have lost most of my options for customization.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Alex ChituJuly 11, 2008 at 11:21 AM

    @Rob:
    I think this is one of the best Google redesigns. I already use Google News much more than before.

    ReplyDelete
  9. DenysJuly 11, 2008 at 11:34 PM

    Don't like it - too spread out. Give us back our two columns. All customizations lost too.

    ReplyDelete
  10. DenysJuly 11, 2008 at 11:52 PM

    The old format just came back - brilliant.

    ReplyDelete
  11. AnonymousJuly 13, 2008 at 9:11 AM

    How do I revert back to the original layout? I do not like this new layout.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Alex ChituJuly 13, 2008 at 2:04 PM

    @Anonymous:
    Clear your Google cookie.

    ReplyDelete
  13. AnonymousJuly 14, 2008 at 6:14 AM

    Clearing the Google cookie doesn't work for me. I really dislike this new design. It wastes the horizontal space, which is prime real estate for content, IMO.

    The tabs should go back up top, lose the dopey imbedded links to the gadgets, and lose some of that excessive iGoogle header space as well. For me, iGoogle is all about accessing MY CONTENT, and Google is making it harder to do that!
    Rant over.
    -bk

    ReplyDelete
  14. AnonymousJuly 15, 2008 at 5:43 AM

    Clearing the cookies worked for me, thanks Alex

    ReplyDelete
  15. UnknownJuly 15, 2008 at 2:33 PM

    hey guys....
    i am not able to get the new layout.. wat shud i do get the new layout?

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)