Jun 27, 2011 08:51 GMT  ·  By

Google is definitely preparing for some rather big design changes, by its standards. Last week we saw a redesigned homepage and search results page and now it seems that the black top navigational bar that has been spotted in the past is being tested more widely.

Users have been spotting a new black version of the top bar featuring links to Google services and to the account settings. It features a black background and grey and white links, but is otherwise identical to the regular bar.

Even more interesting, a similar take on the YouTube player has been spotted, featuring a black background with grey and white elements. A variation of this, with a dark gray background instead of a pure black one has been spotted as well.

Both features have the same color scheme indicating that Google is working on a coordinated effort to update all of its big websites. However, the reason behind the redesign is pretty much a mystery.

The Google Operating System blog speculates that, because of the large number of people spotting the darker elements, Google may actually be rolling out the new design rather than just testing it.

It's hard to believe tough that Google will actually switch to a dark-theme throughout its most popular websites, at least not one enabled by default. There are a couple of reasons for this.

For one, it's already testing a much bigger redesign of its homepage and search results page that seems to be rolling out to more and more people. That redesign features the regular white top bar.

Second, black backgrounds are not usually preferred for websites that aim for wide appeal, most people don't like them. Instead, what might be happening is that Google is testing an alternative design that users will be able to switch over to, on demand.

For the YouTube player, this makes a lot of sense, presuming that there will be a black embeddable version as well. People with dark-themed websites are going to appreciate the option. The black background may also be a good choice for accessibility, making the sites more easily readable by the visually impaired.

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The Google homepage with the black top bar
The black YouTube player
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