Yeah, the white lettering makes it very hard to read.
Why is Google trying so hard to be more like Bing? The backgrounds are just visual noise getting in the way of what I want my search engine to get done for me.
How many of you actually go to the Google homepage to search? With Chrome/Chromium, just type on the address bar; for Firefox have shortcut prefixes. (like "g hacker news" searches for "hacker news".)
For me it's habit. I click on the address bar, I type "go" and chrome fills in the rest, than I hit enter and do my stuff. It's muscle memory.
I set Duck Duck Go as my primary browser search engine a long time ago but still habitually type "go" and use google. This change should be all I need to remember to type "du" instead of "go".
Interesting; it's probably an A/B test, since I'm not given that option. At the bottom left corner, my screen says, "Change background image."
EDIT: Actually, I selected a background, and then I was given the option to "Remove background image." Unfortunately, this just reset my background image to whatever Google had chosen for me.
That's what I've just done too... well, a .gif. The white text of Google now looks terrible.
It's really ugly no matter what now. I don't think I'll be visiting the home page again for a while... might set up one of their custom search boxes on a page of my own so that I can avoid the home page.
Google had Bing envy, so through a massive engineering effort and R&D they have managed to reverse engineer and clone Bing's #1 differentiator. Let The Search Engine Wars Begin Anew!
Google has a cult of data that I think is pretty dehumanizing. Perhaps they look ugly because they don't ultimately give a damn about the design -- only that the data told them they are losing market share.
Since Google is the #1 search engine by a extremely wide margin and this change is obviously a response to competition, and the change is poorly implemented, it becomes of interest to the HN crowd. Consider it a water-cooler topic - not earth shattering, but still a way to pass the time.
Doesn't work for me. I get the background no matter what. I've tried typing in every permutation. It's like they locked me out of removing the background. Ugh.
Google can shove images up their arse. I don't give a damn. I was keeping them as my browser's home page as long as it was clean. Now I have switched to DDG.
The photos they provide are very nice, but as everybody has pointed out, they are pointless.
However, what if the image was dynamically generated, say from news articles/photos or some other dynamic graphic that's related to the user. That's the only use I see.
The only site that I've seen really get themes right is WolframAlpha. Their small, tasteful theme gallery (http://www.wolframalpha.com/homesettings.html) is really very well put together.
Google must be loosing market share to Bing to behave so panicky. First there is Bing like left column in search result page, and now the background image. Maybe they get sleepless with Bing appearing on iOS devices.
Ah - blessed relief. Quoth Google: "Please be assured these images will only be displayed today, and the homepage will return to its regular white background tomorrow."
See the response from one "Paul" (Google Employee) here:
The first background image I got was absolutely awful. It greatly obscured the actual content of the page, and didn't look very good either. I tried the "Change background image" link, but couldn't actually change it without logging into a Google account. In fact, it was so awful that I left and did my search with Bing.
Trying the homepage again just now I got an image that had a little more contrast with the page content, and looked a little better, but still is not very attractive overall. Most of the sample pictures they list don't look very appealing either.
This is one of the biggest failures I've seen from Google. Marissa, if you're listening, please give us our white background back. I will not be executing any more Google searches with these backgrounds, and choosing my own background on an iGoogle homepage is not an acceptable solution.
In all the time since my first Google search in the late 90s, this is the ONLY thing that has given me sufficient motivation to switch my default search engine away from Google.
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[ 3.5 ms ] story [ 102 ms ] threadWhy is Google trying so hard to be more like Bing? The backgrounds are just visual noise getting in the way of what I want my search engine to get done for me.
I set Duck Duck Go as my primary browser search engine a long time ago but still habitually type "go" and use google. This change should be all I need to remember to type "du" instead of "go".
(Update: Seems this doesn't work for everyone!)
EDIT: Actually, I selected a background, and then I was given the option to "Remove background image." Unfortunately, this just reset my background image to whatever Google had chosen for me.
If I select a "white" background, it doesn't give the old Google page -- it has translucent text with shadows. Looks super ugly. Very annoying.
Come on Google! People love you for your simplicity. That's one reason you broke away from Yahoo's then-dominance of search/startpages years ago.
It's really ugly no matter what now. I don't think I'll be visiting the home page again for a while... might set up one of their custom search boxes on a page of my own so that I can avoid the home page.
1. Sign in to Google.
2. Click the white "Change Background Image" link in the lower left-hand corner.
3. Select "Editor's Picks."
4. Scroll all the way to the bottom, where a plain white background is available.
(Oddly enough, after being alarmed and even angered by the weird image, I actually found myself really liking a plain grey background.)
Chrome's themes are just ugly: https://tools.google.com/chrome/intl/en/themes/index.html
Such are many of the background pictures Google is providing for the home page. It's sad.
use https://google.com if you don't want the background.
However, what if the image was dynamically generated, say from news articles/photos or some other dynamic graphic that's related to the user. That's the only use I see.
See the response from one "Paul" (Google Employee) here:
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Web%20Search/thread?ti...
Trying the homepage again just now I got an image that had a little more contrast with the page content, and looked a little better, but still is not very attractive overall. Most of the sample pictures they list don't look very appealing either.
This is one of the biggest failures I've seen from Google. Marissa, if you're listening, please give us our white background back. I will not be executing any more Google searches with these backgrounds, and choosing my own background on an iGoogle homepage is not an acceptable solution.
In all the time since my first Google search in the late 90s, this is the ONLY thing that has given me sufficient motivation to switch my default search engine away from Google.