# Did google change it's layout slightly, or is it my computer? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 10, 2009, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-google-change-its-layout-slightly-or-is-it-my-computer/509564 "2009-09-10T15:53:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-google-change-its-layout-slightly-or-is-it-my-computer/509564/21 "2009-09-11T03:35:17Z")
Google runs a lot of experiments (in the statistical sense) with variations in their page design to figure out exactly what works. If they’re changing the main search page for everybody, you can be assured that they have good reason to do so. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-google-change-its-layout-slightly-or-is-it-my-computer/509564/22 "2009-09-11T05:59:30Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > And a [cite](http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_display.asp) for my statistics above. This is not any sort of significant design change at all. Note that a full 67% of users were using either 800x600 or 640x400 displays in January 2000. Now, a full 93% are using 1024x768 or higher, and only 4% at 800x600 or below. My main display, for instance, is 1920x1200, and my laptop screen is 1440x900. I welcome the larger input box. Your statistics are completely meaningless unless you also have stats on the physical screen size. If you are talking about the user experience, the number of pixels doesn’t matter–only the number of pixels _per inch_. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-google-change-its-layout-slightly-or-is-it-my-computer/509564/23 "2009-09-11T07:47:27Z")
The statistics are not completely meaningless. Some people like their screen set to different resolutions even though the same physical screens are available. At work, my screen resolution is 1280 x 1024, but since a good portion of my coworkers are in their 50’s, about half have it set to 1024 x 768 just so they can see without their glasses. My mom has a 19" flatscreen that’s set to freakin 800 x 600. I always have to change it when I use her PC so I don’t feel like I’m in the front seats of a movie theater. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-google-change-its-layout-slightly-or-is-it-my-computer/509564/24 "2009-09-11T13:25:12Z")
> [@EvilTOJ](#): > > The statistics are not completely meaningless. Some people like their screen set to different resolutions even though the same physical screens are available. That’s _exactly_ my point. **Pulykamell** said, “Today, most users have a screen resolution higher than 1024x768, so it seems to make sense to me to up the font size on the input screen.” I’m typing on a screen with a higher resolution than that, but it’s a 24" screen. The Google logo looks bigger on this screen than it does on my notebook’s screen, even though this one is higher resolution. Pixels per inch determine the size, not overall resolution. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-google-change-its-layout-slightly-or-is-it-my-computer/509564/25 "2009-09-11T14:24:28Z")
> [@InvisibleWombat](#): > > Your statistics are completely meaningless unless you also have stats on the physical screen size. If you are talking about the user experience, the number of pixels doesn’t matter–only the number of pixels _per inch_. Have monitor sizes (as measured in inches) really gone up much, in general, since 2000? I don’t have statistics at hand, but the notion seems implausible to me. Monitors look to be about the same size as they’ve always been. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-google-change-its-layout-slightly-or-is-it-my-computer/509564/26 "2009-09-11T14:57:20Z")
> [@InvisibleWombat](#): > > Your statistics are completely meaningless unless you also have stats on the physical screen size. If you are talking about the user experience, the number of pixels doesn’t matter–only the number of pixels _per inch_. You are, of course, correct. A better table would have been one that measures the average PPI over the years, but I can’t find such a thing. I was going under the assumption that monitor sizes haven’t changed all that much over the years. We do have some bigger ones now, but average PPI is around 96 these days (my 23" LCD displays 98 PPI, for example). I remember it being around 72 back in the day. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-google-change-its-layout-slightly-or-is-it-my-computer/509564/27 "2009-09-11T15:19:08Z")
> [@threemae](#): > > Their user interface is far behind Bing’s in readability, usability, and above all else aesthetics, so it makes sense they’d finally accede to tweaking things a bit. This canonical viewpoint that Google somehow managed to reach the human apogee of graphic design and website user interfaces in 1999 is a bit silly. ? It is a search engine. All you need is what they have. It has a field to type in the search terms, and something to click on to go search. If you want to refine some facet of the search, there is a clicky to do that. What more do you need for a search engine? A big picture of a city skyline at night? Whatever is the most popular search for someone else right now? To sign in as a member and make it your search engine? If I am going to google [I normally dont, I use firefox and have a cute little google box on my toolbar] I already know what I am going to search for … I dont need a picture of a city [though I admit I like the changing holiday google artwork] and i dont feel the need to be a mindless micro$hit drone and sing in for their services. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-google-change-its-layout-slightly-or-is-it-my-computer/509564/28 "2009-09-11T15:35:03Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > Have monitor sizes (as measured in inches) really gone up much, in general, since 2000? I don’t have statistics at hand, but the notion seems implausible to me. Monitors look to be about the same size as they’ve always been. In my neck of the woods they sure have. A 15 inch monitor was the norm around 2000 now 19 inch monitors are the low end. I think this has a lot to do with LCD monitors coming out. Big tube monitors had to be deep and so a big monitor took up to much space. Now a 24 inch monitor takes up very little desk space. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-google-change-its-layout-slightly-or-is-it-my-computer/509564/29 "2009-09-11T15:42:05Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > Have monitor sizes (as measured in inches) really gone up much, in general, since 2000? I don’t have statistics at hand, but the notion seems implausible to me. Monitors look to be about the same size as they’ve always been. I think they’ve gotten substantially larger. I’m using a dual 24" screen setup, and I don’t know where I’d even have _found_ 24" screens in the past. How long has it been since you’ve seen a 13" monitor for sale? That used to be pretty standard. Now even the 15’s are getting harder to find, as 17 and 19 are the standards. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-google-change-its-layout-slightly-or-is-it-my-computer/509564/30 "2009-09-11T16:07:28Z")
> [@InvisibleWombat](#): > > How long has it been since you’ve seen a 13" monitor for sale? That used to be pretty standard. So we’re looking at 76 ppi for an 800x600 display for a 13" and 61 ppi for a 640x480 display at the same diagonal size. That’s significantly less pixel dense than today’s 90-100 or so ppi displays. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-google-change-its-layout-slightly-or-is-it-my-computer/509564/31 "2009-09-11T22:46:08Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > So we’re looking at 76 ppi for an 800x600 display for a 13" and 61 ppi for a 640x480 display at the same diagonal size. That’s significantly less pixel dense than today’s 90-100 or so ppi displays. I’m sorry, **puly** , but I’m not getting your point. The last 13" screen I bought worked at 1280x1024, which would be about 121 ppi. The one before that only went to 1024x768, which was about 97 ppi. Similarly, I could quote all the different resolutions that the new screens support, and we could go ahead and figure out the pixel densities on those. But none of that supports or refutes the claim that the average person would see the Google logo smaller now (before the enlarging, anyway) than they did five or ten years ago. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-google-change-its-layout-slightly-or-is-it-my-computer/509564/32 "2009-09-11T22:54:16Z")
> [@InvisibleWombat](#): > > I’m sorry, **puly** , but I’m not getting your point. The last 13" screen I bought worked at 1280x1024, which would be about 121 ppi. I admit my point isn’t bullet-proof here. I’m going under the assumption that those in 1999 who were using 800x600 or 640x480 resolutions (the majority of people) were using screens of at least 13". (I really don’t remember screens being much smaller than that). Therefore, we’re looking at a majority of people using ppis of 76 or lower. My own recollection is that current screens I used are much more pixel dense than the screens I had in the late 90s. You were using 1024 resolution, that’s fine. But the majority of people weren’t, as given in my site above. You’d need an 8-8.5" screen to get the 90-100 ppi of today’s monitors at 640x480 or 10-11" for 800x600. I don’t think the monitors were that small back then for that pixel density at that resolution. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-google-change-its-layout-slightly-or-is-it-my-computer/509564/33 "2009-09-11T23:05:55Z")
To make it perfectly clear (I hope) Two-thirds of computer users as of January 2000 were using 800x600 or 640x480 resolution. For them to get the equivalent ppi (and same apparent size of images) of modern screens, the 800x600 users would have to have been using screens with a 10"-11" diagonal. 640x480 users would have to have been using screens with an 8"-8.5" diagonal. I think this is highly unlikely. I think the 13" would be likely the smallest size you would be seeing with any regularity, and that computes to 76 ppi for 800x600 resolution and 61 ppi for 640x480 resolution. The only way the 67% of people with their monitors set to 800x600 or below would be seeing the same apparent size of display on their monitors in 2000 as monitors today in 2009 is if they were using 11" monitors or smaller. Therefore, I think it is reasonable to assume that, say, a 300x400 image looked significantly bigger to the _average_ user of the internet in 1999 using an _average_ display size of 800x600 or smaller than the 2009 internet user who is most likely using a resolution higher than 1024x768, and is most likely seeing ppis in the range of 90+. ---
**Author:** ![Never\_Say\_Dice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee59a6/32.png) [@Never\_Say\_Dice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Never_Say_Dice)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2009, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-google-change-its-layout-slightly-or-is-it-my-computer/509564/34 "2009-09-12T00:57:10Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Whoa. When I originally read this thread, I went to [Google.com](http://Google.com) and it looked exactly the same. I went to Google something about 30 seconds ago, and the search box and text were HUGE. So I came back to this thread just to say that. Glad I could be of assistance. I found the size normal. ---
**Author:** ![Spectralist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Spectralist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectralist)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2009, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-google-change-its-layout-slightly-or-is-it-my-computer/509564/35 "2009-09-12T04:09:05Z")
> [@InvisibleWombat](#): > > If you are talking about the user experience, the number of pixels doesn’t matter–only the number of pixels _per inch_. The pixels per inch only matters to me if my monitors individual pixels somehow exceed the resolving power of my eyes at normal usage distance. That hasn’t happened yet. Until then I want any and all UI elements to use up as few pixels as is functionally possible. Increasing the size of the search bar on their main page is pretty irrelevant to me but increasing it on the search results page means I get less results with out having to scroll. Which is a downgrade for my uses. Albeit not exactly a huge downgrade. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-google-change-its-layout-slightly-or-is-it-my-computer/509564/36 "2009-09-14T12:43:11Z")
Is there anyone who has a legitimate gripe about the change? Or is it the typical [They Changed It Now It Sucks](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheyChangedItNowItSucks) arguments?Dopers may be predominantly liberal politically, but they sure are really conservative when it comes to their web design. Who uses the main site, anyways? Google search is available there in your upper right hand corner. There’s no reason to even see the main site anymore. It still looks perfectly normal on mobile. And it doesn’t take any longer to load. ETA: Didn’t see Spectralist: If it’s so important to you, just use the mobile version of all the sites, where screen real estate is actually economized. You’d have to scroll anyways, so it doesn’t really save you much. ---
**Author:** ![pipper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c2a13f/32.png) [@pipper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pipper)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-google-change-its-layout-slightly-or-is-it-my-computer/509564/37 "2009-09-14T13:51:24Z")
I don’t like it. I don’t know why, but I feel like I’m using the dumbed down version for old people… like it’s now the Jitterbug Phone for search engines. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-google-change-its-layout-slightly-or-is-it-my-computer/509564/38 "2009-09-14T14:18:50Z")
> [@pipper](#): > > I don’t like it. I don’t know why, but I feel like I’m using the dumbed down version for old people… like it’s now the Jitterbug Phone for search engines. Haha, that’s pretty funny. It totally says, “Now Gertie doesn’t have to git her glasses while usin’ the Google!” ---
**Author:** ![nivlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3bc359/32.png) [@nivlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nivlac)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-google-change-its-layout-slightly-or-is-it-my-computer/509564/39 "2009-09-14T22:16:32Z")
I think the change is fine. I did notice the change and assumed that it was Google’s way to make their font more readable since nothing else was affected on the page. Everything is still as uncluttered as before. And that’s just perfectly fine and dandy for these myopic eyes. Thank you, Google. ---
**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-google-change-its-layout-slightly-or-is-it-my-computer/509564/40 "2009-09-15T00:02:36Z")
I still am not seeing the change to the main page but I don’t use it very often so I may not have noticed. I did see a really big change in the search box at news.Google a few months ago and Google advanced search changed a little bit about the same time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-google-change-its-layout-slightly-or-is-it-my-computer/509564.md?page=1)