by Moe Zilla

Created on: August 14, 2010

Here's a look at the changes in the new version of Google's "images" search site - and how it's different than the old layout for Google Images. It's an abrupt change, because for many years, Google displayed its image search results in exactly the same way. But suddenly, halfway through 2010, Google decided there was room for improvement.

It's startling to see just how many images Google can load into your browser. If you've got a widescreen monitor, Google can even squeeze eight different images into every row (though for most monitors it's just five images per row). But Google also downloads a second "page" of images automatically, which simply start appearing below the first three rows, under the words "Page 2." And if you drag down your browser's scrollbar, Google will take that as a sign that you want to see even more images - and they'll start filling your browser with even more rows of images. ("Page 3... Page 4... Page 5.... Page 6....")

The biggest difference is that there are no actual "pages". You could easily end up with over 100 images in your browser without every having to switch to a different set of images on a separate page. I can see this being an advantage for Google, because they honestly want to know which images are most popular with web surfers. Google would like to display the most popular images first - and they'll get a better idea of what people are searching for if they're able to show them a lot more choices!

I had to wonder if Google was also trying to position itself better for the mobile phone market. It seems like touch-sensitive smartphones encourage people to flit from one visual icon to the next, and to indicate their preferences by virtually "moving" the view on their screen. If someone is searching Google Images on their phone, obviously they wouldn't want to keep hitting the "next page" button before seeing more pictures. With this new site, Google intuits their desire for more images, simply by watching where they've moved their browser's scrollbar!

There's one more big way that the newer version is an improvement. If you selected an image to look at, Google used to display only a thumbnail. You'd have to click yet again in order to see a full-sized version of the image - or to visit the web page where the image had come from. Now, Google displays the full-sized image, and shows you a grayed-out version of that web page in the background. Sometimes you can even catch a glimpse of where the image appears on that web page - but it definitely gives a better idea of where the image came from.

I'll miss the old Google images, because that's what I'd gotten used to over the years. But I have to admit that the new version of Google Images seems very "dynamic" - and honestly? It's pretty exciting.

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