Google is also debuting improved photo-tagging and the new face recognition feature

Dec 19, 2011 21:41 GMT  ·  By

The Google+ photo lightbox is getting a revamp. It was about time too, Google+ Photos is one of the best designed sections of the site, but the lightbox feels cheap.

The new one will look familiar but there are plenty of changes and improvements to both the look, the layout and the functionality.

"We’re making a bevy of improvements to the Google+ Photos experience, just in time for the holiday photo-sharing season," Google's Bradley Horowitz, half of the two-man team that leads Google+, wrote.

"Viewing a photo in Lightbox has been completely redesigned with improved navigation, enhanced comment legibility and better overall utility. This design makes the photo the hero, letting the content itself shine through," he explained.

"And we’re introducing a completely new photo-tagging experience that’s both fun and fluid, and lets you quickly focus on the people in your photos," he added.

The new lightbox is better spaced out. All of the buttons are now at the bottom in a bar and there is no more thumbnail view of all the photos in an album, leaving more space for the actual photo. However, the thumbnail list is still available and becomes visible if you click the View All button.

The comments are to the right, as they've always been, but they're much easier to read with the new white background. The conversation is easier to follow as well, the photo's caption is listed at the top and the comments follow.

But if you're not really interested in what people are saying and just want to see the photo, you can hide the comments column entirely, by clicking on the new "full screen" button.

The cool thing, or the annoying one depending on what you want, is that the comments will still be visible as overlay captions on the photo and will be played back in the order they were made so you can sit back and follow the conversation.

Last but certainly not least, Google+ is introducing a significantly improved tagging feature.

People's faces are recognized in photos making it easier to tag them. If they have enabled the Find My Face feature, your friends will be automatically recognized and you'll get a tag suggestion.

In photos where people are tagged, you'll see a list of all tags in the right-side column. What's more, the people from your circles will be highlighted and you'll even get help spotting them in the photo.