But you can still access it through a "special link"

May 10, 2010 14:50 GMT  ·  By

Google launched a brand-new design last week, one that has been testing publicly for many months and that has been in the works, in one way or another, for years. The new Google homepage and search results page liven up things a little and are generally cleaner, more colorful, but without feeling cluttered. Most people seem to like it, or at least, they don’t hate it. There’s one thing that’s been giving rise to more complaints than anything else, though, the permanent left sidebar.

Some people find it useless and feel that it makes the search engine too cluttered. They claim that they have no use for the search options and filters in the sidebar and it just takes up space without bringing anything to the table. So, they’ve been asking for a way to go back to the old design or, at least, an option to disable the sidebar by default. Well, just like for the ones asking for YouTube to bring back the old design, it’s not going to happen.

"We’re not offering a way to revert back to the old design," is everything that Google had to say on the matter. It makes sense for Google to take this approach, some people are going to be against any change, so there’s no way of moving forward without annoying someone. In many cases, it’s just the force of habit, not a truly poor design that makes people reject it.

However, while Google may not be allowing users to opt out of the new design officially, there is a way of accessing the 'old' Google by following this link. There’s no way of knowing how long this will work, it’s likely that Google will block this option in the future. As for the option to turn off the sidebar, that is a more reasonable request, but, if Google doesn’t have a really big number of people asking for it, it’s likely not going to happen either.