New - "Fading" Google Home Page

[Judah_Ben]

Apologies if this is old new, but has anyone else noticed the newer style Google.com home page?

It looks like G got rid of the search buttons, and the utility links in the top and footer links in the bottom fade in slowly.

Currently, I'm only seeing this happen in FF.

[chandrika]

< moved from another location >

i just noticed on Friday the new fade in effect of the home page. I did not realise what it was about, I just noticed the change in page load time.

I remember when Google first started main reason everyone went for it was its simplicity, when on 56kbps that search page was a blessing compared to yahoo etc.

I know it is hardly slow to load now...but that second extra it now takes to load....annoys me

[edited by: tedster at 8:40 pm (utc) on Dec. 5, 2009]

[limbo]

I've disabled it with Grease monkey. It was driving me mad.

Horrible Gimmick.

[PCInk]

I hate it too. Though it has made me realise just how often I go to the news and shopping tabs across the top - waiting for those to fade in every time is becoming very annoying.

[Hissingsid]

<irony>Wouldn't it be nice if a little stream of letters followed your cursor or snowflakes descended from the top of the page</irony>

[johnmoose]

Just give us an option to turn the fade off!

[AnkitMaheshwari]

It is getting annoying for me too.... as it seems the waiting time for fade-in is increasing everytime....

[Hissingsid]

Just give us an option to turn the fade off!

But Google knows you don't really want to do this and if you did then you would be wrong. Google wants to stop you doing the wrong thing. Google wants to help you to make the right decision. You will make the right decision. Google will make you make the right decision. Google will make the decision for you and your new car and credit agreement will be delivered on Monday. Don't try and return it because the cancellation fee is more than the car is worth. Don't know about the cancellation fee, Google has a none opt out clause in the user terms which state that they can send you anything and if you reject it the charge will be 2x what it is worth. The clause was originally included for search terms only but was extended to consumer durables. If you have continued to use Google then you have confirmed that you accept these terms.

[mcneely]

Google wants to help you to make the right decision.

Indeed ... like using a different start page for instance .. Yahoo, Bing, or whatever .. just a differenet start page.

I've noticed over the months that since all of this business of listing and tracking social networking sites started, Google has sort of fallen in with those that like that slow loading, fade-in rubbish ..

[icedowl]

I don't like it because it slows me down if I'm not going to search for something. A lot of the time I plan to read the news page, or use one of the other options. Now I'm waiting for something I shouldn't have to wait for.

We definitely need a way to opt out of this irritating annoyance.

[Robert Charlton]

...Now I'm waiting for something I shouldn't have to wait for.

I agree. While initially I liked the idea as a way of emphasizing the search box, I've come to feel that the fade-in does slow experienced users with good mouse reflexes. They know what nav link they want to click, but the link hasn't appeared yet.

[ken_b]

This "feature" is really annoying.

If we used that kind of tactic to display AdSense ads before the rest of the content loaded they'd probably boot us out of the program.

[engine]

There are two ways of looking at this.

It's a great idea, and a ploy to drive people off to Bing.

or

This has to line up as one of the worst features Google's tested. It's not a productivity enhancement, it's the opposite. I really don't have a good word for it.

Google, if you want to land us with these 'clever' accessories, give us the option to turn it off!

NB, I have a way to stop it, but the average surfer won't know how to do that.