14 DAY TRIAL // Google is well underway rolling out the new custom background feature for the Google homepage. Announced a couple of days ago, Google said all US users should be getting it by the end of the week. But if you can’t wait any longer, there’s a way of tricking Google into enabling the feature on your account.
The ‘hack’ requires nothing more than to follow this link and then proceed to log into your Google account. You’ll then be asked to pick an image to serve as your new background for the Google homepage and that’s it, no more questions asked.
This only works for the international domain, Google.com, and not for the localized versions. However, the feature is being introduced for the global Google homepages as well over the next few days.
As for the feature itself, it’s actually pretty solid. Google has taken all the necessary steps to ensure that the customized background doesn’t prove an usability issue. All the elements on the page are tailored for this use. The idea is to maximize visibility on the page and do so with every possible image, in any color combination.
The Google logo is all white as are all the, admittedly few, links and text lines on the homepage. However, the text is shadowed in such a way as to remain legible even if the background is solid white, actually one of the options in the default set of images provided by Google.
When it comes to choices for the background images, Google has all angles covered. It provides a gallery of Editor’s picks with a set of very good quality photos as well as several solid color backgrounds. You can also choose from a public gallery of interesting photos submitted by users. If you fancy yourself somewhat of a photographer, you can select a photo from your existing Picasa web albums. Finally, you can upload an image from your computer. [via The Next Web]
