Google showed me one of its A/B testing variants of its homepage today.
"Variant A" is the structure of Google’s homepage that we have gotten used to seeing for the past many years. It is simple and sober user interface with most popular Google services available on the top. Today I was shown “Variant B” in which Google has removed top-navigation bar and hidden almost all of these options in a collapsible menu on the top-right.
Wonder why Google wants to hide its popular application services such as News, Maps, and Youtube in a collapsible menu. While "Variant B" change may give Google extra few PPI on its already pristinely clean homepage, but this also unnecessarily increases the number of clicks required to quickly access these services. I can understand if Google collapsed options on its mobile compatible site shown on a handheld device with limited real estate but find it bizarre that Google is doing the same on its desktop site shown on a 17-inch monitor.
This new homepage may also mislead new users who may not immediately realize that these apps are available but hidden in some collapsible menu. By putting Images service outside the menu and hiding Youtube service inside the menu, is Google implying the improbable that former is more popular than latter? It is also weird that they show a Search option under the menu when I am already on their Search homepage.
With this change, Google's new homepage is like the opposite extreme of Yahoo's homepage.
"Variant A" is the structure of Google’s homepage that we have gotten used to seeing for the past many years. It is simple and sober user interface with most popular Google services available on the top. Today I was shown “Variant B” in which Google has removed top-navigation bar and hidden almost all of these options in a collapsible menu on the top-right.
Wonder why Google wants to hide its popular application services such as News, Maps, and Youtube in a collapsible menu. While "Variant B" change may give Google extra few PPI on its already pristinely clean homepage, but this also unnecessarily increases the number of clicks required to quickly access these services. I can understand if Google collapsed options on its mobile compatible site shown on a handheld device with limited real estate but find it bizarre that Google is doing the same on its desktop site shown on a 17-inch monitor.
This new homepage may also mislead new users who may not immediately realize that these apps are available but hidden in some collapsible menu. By putting Images service outside the menu and hiding Youtube service inside the menu, is Google implying the improbable that former is more popular than latter? It is also weird that they show a Search option under the menu when I am already on their Search homepage.
With this change, Google's new homepage is like the opposite extreme of Yahoo's homepage.
