Comments on: Google claim their new “fade in” feature provides increased efficiency for users https://www.90percentofeverything.com/2009/12/04/google-claim-their-new-fade-in-feature-provides-increased-efficiency-for-users/ User Experience Design, Research & Good Old Fashioned Usability Fri, 15 Jan 2010 22:06:22 +0000 hourly 1 By: Lary Stucker https://www.90percentofeverything.com/2009/12/04/google-claim-their-new-fade-in-feature-provides-increased-efficiency-for-users/#comment-117927 Fri, 15 Jan 2010 22:06:22 +0000 http://www.90percentofeverything.com/?p=2652#comment-117927 I think the efficiency boost is that more people used the search tool as opposed to getting distracted by those other hidden actions.

]]> By: Louise Hewitt https://www.90percentofeverything.com/2009/12/04/google-claim-their-new-fade-in-feature-provides-increased-efficiency-for-users/#comment-117274 Sun, 03 Jan 2010 08:48:42 +0000 http://www.90percentofeverything.com/?p=2652#comment-117274 Isn’t this a classic case of teams trying to get budget status within a very big organisation during a financial squeeze.

The home-page UI team need to be seen to be doing something to justify their budget, but the google box is sacred. Hey, let’s do something ajaxy! Where? Ah, anywhere, everywhere, who cares. Now, lets think of a reason why we did it…

I think it will blow over.

Not to say it won’t be a great opportunity to see how the effects impact usability, maybe even open up a new UI design trend. I’m just suspicious of the stated flow here – did user research really drive this decision, or is it a convenient way to flog the changes?

]]> By: Johan Strandell https://www.90percentofeverything.com/2009/12/04/google-claim-their-new-fade-in-feature-provides-increased-efficiency-for-users/#comment-116663 Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:30:50 +0000 http://www.90percentofeverything.com/?p=2652#comment-116663 Today I actually found myself irritated by the fade in. I wanted to go to the advanced search page, and instead of being able to click there immediately, I had to wave the cursor around, watch the fade in and only after that I could click the link.

Google might gain some increased brand awareness, but having to wait for a pointless animation feels strange for the normally efficiency-obsessed Google. I’m not against animations per se, but had it been faster I think it wouldn’t have minded so much, but now it’s a couple of hundred ms too long.

That said, Google might be experimenting with using their start page for more advertising and branding – there’s a Chrome ad there now (I’m using Safari), and they’ve been showing Android and/or Droid ads as well.

]]> By: Jon https://www.90percentofeverything.com/2009/12/04/google-claim-their-new-fade-in-feature-provides-increased-efficiency-for-users/#comment-116420 Mon, 14 Dec 2009 05:15:04 +0000 http://www.90percentofeverything.com/?p=2652#comment-116420 The problem with this fade in feature is it gives the impression to seasoned Googlers that something is wrong with their browser or even worse, their computer may be acting strange because of some malware infection. The skeptic in me also says that the whole thing is intended to raise the awareness level of Google by getting us talking about this new fade in feature. In other words, branding.

]]> By: Pete Gale https://www.90percentofeverything.com/2009/12/04/google-claim-their-new-fade-in-feature-provides-increased-efficiency-for-users/#comment-116099 Mon, 07 Dec 2009 14:04:53 +0000 http://www.90percentofeverything.com/?p=2652#comment-116099 From reading their blog post, it seems they’re measuring efficiency of these peripheral links ( Marissa Meyer says this design “represents our focus on great search yet helps searchers efficiently access all of Google’s products”). Wouldn’t this effect have the same effect as the ‘one-second spotlight’ pattern seen on so many ajax based sites? It’s the same idea, just a little more on brand than the usual yellow box.

]]> By: Harry Brignull https://www.90percentofeverything.com/2009/12/04/google-claim-their-new-fade-in-feature-provides-increased-efficiency-for-users/#comment-116096 Mon, 07 Dec 2009 13:15:26 +0000 http://www.90percentofeverything.com/?p=2652#comment-116096 So you thing hiding-then-revealing the peripheral links (images / videos / etc) is more eye catching than just showing them? Hmmm, sounds questionable to me.

]]> By: Pete Gale https://www.90percentofeverything.com/2009/12/04/google-claim-their-new-fade-in-feature-provides-increased-efficiency-for-users/#comment-116095 Mon, 07 Dec 2009 13:11:04 +0000 http://www.90percentofeverything.com/?p=2652#comment-116095 Obviously the question here is how Google defines efficiency, however, given that peripheral links such as those revealed here are frequently missed by users, it does not seem surprising that this fade effect could increase their visibility, and therefore navigational efficiency, without compromising the primary task.

]]> By: Rich https://www.90percentofeverything.com/2009/12/04/google-claim-their-new-fade-in-feature-provides-increased-efficiency-for-users/#comment-116059 Mon, 07 Dec 2009 01:16:42 +0000 http://www.90percentofeverything.com/?p=2652#comment-116059 Seems like it fades in when you move your mouse.
Will this extra content that suddenly fades in distract users from the search for a few seconds.

]]> By: Johan Strandell https://www.90percentofeverything.com/2009/12/04/google-claim-their-new-fade-in-feature-provides-increased-efficiency-for-users/#comment-115944 Fri, 04 Dec 2009 23:02:38 +0000 http://www.90percentofeverything.com/?p=2652#comment-115944 It does feel a bit pointless, reminiscent of what Bill Scott calls “needless fanfare” (or maybe “animation gone wild”).

For me, it’s telling that Marissa Meyer writes that they “want users to notice this change”; they’re drawing attention to Google rather than making search more effective, which feels more like a marketing approach.

But I think the main point is that “efficiency” isn’t the same for Google as for a user – for Google it’s probably the amount of searches done over time, which isn’t usually an ordinary user’s goal.

]]> By: Paul Silver https://www.90percentofeverything.com/2009/12/04/google-claim-their-new-fade-in-feature-provides-increased-efficiency-for-users/#comment-115894 Fri, 04 Dec 2009 12:31:51 +0000 http://www.90percentofeverything.com/?p=2652#comment-115894 I very rarely see the Google home page as I usually use the search box in Firefox/Safari to go straight to the results page.

As a techie, I don’t think I’m unusual in this behaviour, so I’m a little suspicious of the note in Marissa Mayer’s post that they’ve been using the fade in within Google and their people have really come to like it. Really? How many Google staff look at their home page unless they’re involved in it?

Hmm, perhaps it’s one of those companies that sets everyone’s browser home page to be the company site and won’t let them change it ;-)

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