User Power
Value/Post Ratio
230%
- Jul 13, 2018
- 175
- 403
The post is a little dramatic. Once you get used to this new layout, you'll start skimming again.
It just doesn't feel that way right now because it looks so new.
My main issue is the lack of visual hierarchy in the titles.
I've always searched on Google looking at:
- Title
- Title
- Title
- Maybe source
- Title
- Maybe blurb
So…
Previously, before every title, there was a massive gap of whitespace. So I could look for the whitespace and know that the title followed. That allowed me to skim.
Now, in between the whitespace is the Favicon and URL, neither of which I care about when Googling.
True, it's possible to change my skimming patterns by looking for larger, blue text as the titles. However, the titles are only slightly larger (20px vs 14px), and I use flux 24/7 making the blue color not stand out at all. Maybe it will become easier with practice, but I'm not counting on it right now.
…then again I used to not like the current Google logo. I do now.
P.S. Good news to advertisers (but not consumers): Ads are now less differentiated on Google, making them appear more like actual search results.