14 DAY TRIAL // Google, from its founders right down to most of its software engineers, looks to be obsessed with speed. This has always been the case but recently, things are getting even worse, or better depending on how you look at it, and the company has gotten to the point where it's introducing a couple of new features at the same time, with the same goal in mind, faster results and faster browsing. The first new feature is an improved Google Suggest, itself a time saving feature, with Universal search results incorporated in the box. The second one is the Quick Scroll Google Chrome extension, which enables users to quickly skip to the section of a page that interests them based on their initial query on Google.
“[S]peed isn't just about the time it takes the results to load, or even the time it takes us to index new information — it's about the time it takes to get you the information you're looking for,” Ruth Dhanaraj and Matias Pelenur, Google Software Engineers, wrote. “That's why this week we're making two more improvements to satisfy your information needs more quickly: we're adding universal search features to Google Suggest, and we've released a powerful new extension for Google Chrome called Google Quick Scroll. Both features are examples of ways we want to extend the power of Google search beyond the results page,” they added.
The new Universal search features are easy to spot, if you do the right query. Searches for weather, currency conversions, people, definitions, even mathematical equations will now be answered inside the Suggestion box even before you're done typing them. These searches already provided users with direct answers or results as part of Universal Search but this meant going to the search results page. This approach makes a lot more sense and speeds things up, not that pressing Enter and waiting for the search results page to load took ages.
The second new feature is the Quick Scroll Chrome extension. It's not so obvious at first but once you get the hang of it, it can be a real time saver. Google compares it to the Control+F quick search feature available in most browsers as it allows the user to jump to the section they came to the page for. After installing the extension, it will jump into action on certain queries. Following a Google search result link and a small pop up overlay may show up in the right corner. This only happens for pages that Google determines as not related to the search in their entirety. Clicking on one of the text snippets will make the browser jump to that section.
