Invisible text at google.com

should Google now penalyze its own page rank? :)

[RFranzen]

To get invisible results from Google, set your browser default colors to white text on a blue background (original IBM PC scheme). Search for some nonexistent word, such as sudtr8eu. The following result will fail to appear:

Your search - sudtr8eu - did not match any documents.
No pages were found containing "sudtr8eu".

Suggestions:
Make sure all words are spelled correctly.
Try different keywords.
Try more general keywords.
Also, you can try Google Answers for expert help with your search.

The phrase "Google Answers" is the only visible text, because it is a link.

Google has an oversight in its CSS. SERP pages set background color to white, but only force black text within <td> and <div> scopes. The no-pages-found message is printed on the flat, white background. So the user's white default text is invisible.

BTW, I sent an e-mail to [e-mail] informing them of this problem.

-- Rich

[amoore]

It all shows up for me. Are you specifying your own style sheet or using an unusual browser or something?

[Paully]

hmmmm. I dont see it either. I see all legit links that are not hidden, in any way.

[RFranzen]

The text is only invisible when white is the default text color, and an unsuccesful search is performed. The one link, "Google Answers" is visible. None of the other text I quoted is.

I am not using a custom style sheet, but the browser's defaults. In Netscape/Mozilla, use the Preferences dialog to set text color to white. For a complete scheme, you will also want to modify colors for background, active link, and visited link. In IE, you do the same thing, but from their "Internet Options" dialog, [Color...] button.

The user default colors, fonts, and font-sizes are used when a page doesn't override one (or more) of these kind of parameters. Google forces the background to white without always setting the text to black or some other visible color. The browser is not set to override page colors; instead the page fails to insure a sane foreground/background combination. Using the user's defaults is not only sane, but matches the original philosophy of the web. Overrides are not evil, but the page author assumes responsibility for correctness when he does override something.

I just repeated the test. Google does not yet have this buglet fixed. (Not that I expected such a quick fix, but since 2 of you said the text isn't invisble, I had to reverify the problem.)

-- Rich

[Paully]

...instead the page fails to insure a sane foreground/background combination.

If that is what was in your above statement, I think you could have avoided a lot of confusion.

I would tend to disagree with you in forcing a webmaster to "insure a sane foreground...". I think if you are setting your font text color to white, you have an interest in seeing the internet in a weird and uncommon way. I don’t think what you describe is what is commonly referred to as, a "hidden" link.

A hidden link is more along the lines of: 1x1 transparent image links, small text written in the same color as the background of the page.

This is clearly not what Google is doing.

[RFranzen]

Paully,

I believe you missed the "smiley" in this thread's subtitle. I wasn't reporting unethical/unfair behavior by Google. It was humorous to me that Google itself would have pages with invisible text.

Note that I have not referred to an "invisible link". In fact, the only visible text in the SERP report section was the link.

You are correct that I could have been clearer in my first message. At least two people have misinterpreted. Still, the first two sentences seem logically complete:

To get invisible results from Google, set your browser default colors to white text on a blue background (original IBM PC scheme). Search for some nonexistent word, such as sudtr8eu.

BTW, when IBM released the PC, they explained that its default color scheme of white text on a blue background had been shown to be easy to read and less likely to cause eye strain than many other combinations.

We get into a philosophical discussion regarding surfing in a "weird and uncommon way." IMO, there can be no such thing. A colorblind person may have foreground/background/link colors set to what she can easily read. A partially blind person may need to surf with a 24-point font. A wealthy person may surf with a 1600x1280 display and 20-point default fonts. A blind person may not give a darn about any of that, but his page-talker software cannot work with drop-down menus or image-only (without even <alt> tags) navigation. All of these are needs are "right", and well-designed pages, IMO, will support them.

The other common web design philosophy is to make the page "look good" on the author's 800x600 screen, sometimes using a hardwired 12- or 14-point font. The rationale? "This is a visually appealing design which meets the needs of 92% of my visitors." As one of the other 8%, I find such reasoning to be ... lacking.

Fortunately Mozilla/Netscape6+ allow the user to override fonts which are too small. <Ctrl>-<Plus> and <Ctrl>-<Minus> allow quick re-rendering of the page with bigger and smaller fonts. I believe the age of "fixed 800x600" page design will crumble when Internet Explorer also allows this user-friendly feature. (Not all 800x600 designs hardwire the font size. Those that do are unusable for me with Internet Explorer.)

Methinks I've wandering off topic. Time to search Google for "good css page design" ...

-- Rich