Photo 1. An attempt to get a new cover for Google+ by cropping an old photo heavily. (CC BY Tiina M Niskanen 2012)
I toured around Google+ that had gotten the new layout – these were my first thoughts:
- The new layout isn’t any simpler or more beautiful than the old one, quite the opposite.
- It would be diplomatic to warn users on their profiles and pages about all bigger changes in the system (like Facebook has done, at least lately).
- If continuing like this, Google+ risks wearing out users with too frequent and big changes (like Facebook has done).
- Google+ would benefit of thinking less like an engineer (lot of nifty features) and more like a psychologist (usability of the key features). Eg posts about the “whitespace” raised some worries, although many of them were hilarious as jokes.
- Listening to feedback from different kind of users (not only advertisers) and encouraging engagement among users are worth cherishing.
I’ve liked Google+ so far and I wish it will stay as one of my favourite apps in future, too.
Photo 2. Orange torch, green marbles. Karakallio, Espoo, Finland 26.3.2012 (SOOC except for watermark, CC BY Tiina M Niskanen 2012)
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Related:
Google Blog: Toward a simpler, more beautiful Google
Google+: Trey Harris (post about “whitespace” 12.4.2012)
Google+: Tiina Niskanen (my profile in the new layout)
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Edit 16.1.2013: Statistics on Google url shortener http://goo.gl/OuM3g+
2 comments
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2012-04-13 at 12:29
Ralph Corderoy
Good point about wearing users out with too-frequent changes. For me, I dislike the new grey-on-grey comment text; too low contrast. And if the whitespace is for the next new thing then leave the main content centred until it appears, even supposing it’s then important enough to move what we’re here for out of eyeline.
2012-04-13 at 20:34
Tiina Niskanen
Thanks for stopping by, Ralph! I sure hope you’ll send your feedback to Google+ , if you haven’t already. Participate on the development forums if you have enough time and interest.