Mountain View, California — If you see something a bit different on Google.com, do not panic or adjust your screen. Something is different because Google today announced it has increased the size of the search box that appears on its home and results pages, giving users more space to enter their queries.
“Although it is a very simple enhancement, no effect whatsoever on Google’s searching capability or functionality, nevertheless we are excited about it,” said Google VP Marissa Mayer in a blog post announcing the change. The company said the change “s-u-p-e-r-sizes” the search box, but users can be the judge.
Google said the reasoning behind the change was to stress their focus on search. Apart from the bigger search box, Google is also making the search terms you enter larger as well as the search suggestions that appear when you time your search terms.
“It symbolizes our focus on search and because it makes our clean, minimalist homepage even easier and more fun to use. The new, larger Google search box features larger text when you type so you can see your query more clearly. It also uses a larger text size for the suggestions below the search box, making it easier to select one of the possible refinements,” the company said.
Check out the screen-shots below. First is the new Google and below is the old:
The changes are at once difficult to detect as you might not notice except for the before-and-after graphic Google has thoughtfully provided. (Meanwhile, Google is working on more noticeable changes to the search results themselves).
Mayer wrote that over the company’s 11 years there have been a number of changes to the Google home page. They can be viewed here, but before clicking, try to remember a time when the Google home page did not look pretty much like it does today.
For one, the exclamation point in Google! is gone, as is a front-page link to jobs@Google, though the overall look is pretty much the same through the years, losing clutter as time goes by.
If you have not noticed this yet, do not worry, soon you will.