14 DAY TRIAL // Google is constantly tweaking and updating its products and the homepage isn't spared. But if you thought that something as iconic as the Google homepage would be spared of any major change, especially considering that the 11 or so years it has been around haven't taken too much toll on it, you'd be wrong. Google has been running a pretty extreme test involving a redesign of the homepage and it's now testing a few more variations.
The initial test removed everything from the already spartan homepage except for the search box and the logo. The other elements would reappear when the user moved the mouse over the page and there were two variations of this test, one where the classic Google homepage would be shown and another where the “Google Search” and “I'm Feeling Lucky” buttons would be missing.
The effect was pretty big, though completely useless from a functionality point of view, and, apparently, many were confused by the blank page so Google is now running a couple of new tests which, by the looks of it, are even more confusing to some.
One of the new test homepages shown to a few is a variation on the initial test. It is completely blank initially, except for the logo and the search box, but it now features a notification saying “This space was intentionally left blank.” Obviously meant as a clarification, albeit a rather vague one, it seems that some users still don't get it.
The other test Google is currently running is also a variation on one of the initial and is a fully featured homepage but with the search buttons removed. This too features a notification saying “Press enter to search,” to help users who may be baffled by the missing buttons. Of course, the tests are no indication that Google will decide to implement these features to the homepage but it shows that it is considering some rather big changes to the page, all in the name of a minimalist design.
“At Google, we run anywhere from 50 to 200 experiments at any given time on Google sites around the world. Today, we’re testing several homepage design changes. This is just a test, and a way for us to gauge whether our users will like an even simpler search interface,” Google commented on the tests.
