Google Chrome's New Bookmarks UI

Google Chrome 15 brings some new ways to access your bookmarks. There's a new bookmarks menu below the "new incognito window" option that lets you quickly find your bookmarks. This feature is already available in Chrome 14 (now in beta), but the bookmarks menu is more prominently displayed in Chrome 15.


The new tab page no longer includes the bookmarks bar if this feature is disabled. The main reason for removing the bar is that the new tab page now includes a special section for bookmarks, next to the sections for apps and frequently visited pages. Bookmarks are displayed just like apps, but the thumbnails are much smaller and they seem to be blank, at least for now. You can now drag bookmarks to the list of apps, reorder them or remove them without using the bookmark manager.


While there are many advantages to the new interface for browsing and managing bookmarks, the thumbnail view is not very useful if you have a lot of bookmarks in a folder. Page titles are truncated to the first 10-15 characters and it's not always easy to find a bookmark. A list view is more space-efficient.

»»  read more

Google Drive, a New Name for the Google Docs Homepage?

TechCrunch has recently reported that the subdomain drive.google.com has been added to a Chrome file and a Google Docs message includes a reference to Google Drive.



The source code of Google Docs files has many messages related to "Google Drive", but all of them have one thing in common: they replace similar messages that include "Documents List". Here are two examples: "items haved been removed from your Documents List" / "items haved been removed from your Google Drive", "Add to my Documents List" / "Add to My Google Drive".


This suggests that Google Drive could be the new name of the Google Docs List, while Google Docs could be detached from the file storage interface and only be an online office suite. Google Docs is not the right name for an online storage application that lets you upload not just documents, but also music, videos, archives, photos and other files. Hopefully, the rebranding will bring more free storage, file syncing apps for mobile and desktop and integration with third-party apps.

Steven Levy's "In the Plex" included an interesting story about Google Drive being superseded by Google Docs because "files are so 1990". Google's Sundar Pichai said that "when people use our Google Docs, there are no more files. You just start editing in the cloud, and there's never a file." Google Drive might be a better name for a service that stores user files, whether they're created using Web apps, mobile apps or desktop apps.

»»  read more

Google Tweaks the Search Interface

After a few weeks of testing various changes to the search results pages, Google redesigned the interface and added some of the experimental features. The search options sidebar no longer uses icons, there's a new section that displays the service's name ("Search") and the number of search results.




Google also tweaked the colors of the links and URLs, as you can see in the image above, which compares the new interface (left) with the old interface (right).

»»  read more

Google Groups Has a New Interface

Google Groups is the latest Google service redesigned to look like Google+. New buttons, new icons, new scrollbars, new search box and a smoother interface that makes Google's help forums look outdated.

Since the current Google Groups UI is inspired by Google Reader, we can expect to see a revamped Google Reader with a similar interface.



If you miss the small arrow that allowed you to hide the sidebar, use the "f" keyboard shortcut, which hides both the sidebar and the search box.


{ Thanks, Filipe, François and Elchanan. }

»»  read more

iPhone App for Blogger

Blogger has an app for iPhone and it's better than the corresponding Android app, which has improved a lot in the past months. Both apps let you edit your existing posts and create new posts, add images to your posts, include labels and geolocate your posts.

They're pretty basic, but the iPhone app has a better interface, it's easier to use and pays attention to detail. For example, the iPhone app includes the URL of the blog next to the name when you switch to a different blog, so that it's easier to identify a blog. The Android app only shows the names. To publish a post in the iPhone app, you need to tap the "Publish" button, which is always displayed at the top of the screen. In the Android app you need to scroll to the bottom of the post to find the "publish" button.



"With the Blogger app, you can write a new blog post and publish it immediately or save it as a draft right from your iOS device. You can also open a blog post you've been working on from your computer and continue editing it while you're on-the-go. Your blog posts are automatically synced across devices, so you’ll always have access to the latest version," informs Google.

»»  read more

Customize Google Docs Interface

If you switched to the new Google Docs interface and wondered why there's so much whitespace, I have a good news for you: Google Docs has two new options for adjusting display density. Click the new settings drop-down and select one of the three options: comfortable (the default option), cozy and compact (similar to the old interface). My favorite option is "cozy", which is both clean and compact.




Another change is that the details pane is no longer a sidebar. If you want to find more information about a document, select it and click "Details". Google Docs will display an overlay that includes a large thumbnail, sharing information, the list of collections where you placed the document and some other information.


There's also a button for sharing the selected documents and some new icons for documents, spreadsheets, drawings, presentation and other files.

{ Thanks, Tom. }

»»  read more

Fusion Tables, a New Google Docs App

Aaron, a reader of this blog, spotted a new option in Google Docs: creating tables. It seems that Google Docs started to integrate with Fusion Tables, a little-known Google service that lets you manage large data sets.


I don't see "table (beta)" in Google Docs, so this could be a slow rollout or just a limited experiment. Fusion Tables already has a Google+ interface:


"Google Fusion Tables is a modern data management and publishing web application that makes it easy to host, manage, collaborate on, visualize, and publish data tables online." You can find some examples in the gallery. There are also many tutorials that help you create tables and turn them into maps.

{ Thanks, Aaron. }

»»  read more

New Advanced Image Search Page

Google updated the interface of the advanced image search page to look just like the corresponding Web search page. The redesigned page is easier to use, it groups the search options and includes some of the options that were only available in the sidebar.


Here's the old UI:


Why use the advanced search page instead of using the sidebar? Some of the options aren't available in the sidebar: restricting the results to a filetype, finding Creative Commons images, finding images from a domain or from a country.

There's one feature that's no longer available in the new interface. Can you find it?

»»  read more

iGoogle's New Interface

Google's personalized homepage has a new interface inspired by Google+. There's a prominent button for adding gadgets, a unified menu for gadgets that's hidden until you mouse over a gadget, an option to hide the sidebar and a bigger search box that supports voice search if you use Chrome. The links to the advanced search page and language tools page have been removed, while the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button is only displayed below the list of suggestions,



{ Thanks, Tim. }

»»  read more

Google Redirects Some Chrome Users to the Encrypted Search Interface

Google's encrypted version has all the features of the standard version and Google could redirect users to the more secure interface. You can now search images, use Google Instant, Instant Preview and other features that were missing from Google SSL. The navigation links are still missing and Google Maps doesn't support SSL yet.

A Google employee says that Google is "running an experiment with some percentage of Chrome 14 users where we send them to SSL search. The experience is meant to be completely comparable feature-wise to non-SSL search. It is independent of the Chrome 14 installation." So if you're using Chrome 14 Beta, you might be redirected to Google SSL.



"With Google search over SSL, you can have an end-to-end encrypted search solution between your computer and Google. This secured channel helps protect your search terms and your search results pages from being intercepted by a third party. This provides you with a more secure and private search experience," explains Google. An important downside is the loss of performance, but Chrome uses SPDY for all Google URLs, so SSL pages load a lot faster.

{ Thanks, Libran Lover. }

»»  read more

Offline Google Docs

As promised, Google started to roll out the offline version of Google Docs, but don't expect too much. Much like the offline Gmail and offline Google Calendar, Google Docs works offline only if you use Chrome and install an app from the Chrome Web Store.

When you're offline, Google Docs shows a simplified interface that only lists the documents and spreadsheets that are cached. You can only view them, so most of the features from Google Docs menus are disabled.




Just like the offline Gmail, Google Docs uses a different interface that can also be accessed when you're online if you go to: https://docs.google.com/offline/. "Offline access is available only for documents and spreadsheets. When you have Google Docs open and have an Internet connection, your most recently opened documents and spreadsheets will sync and become available offline. Presentations, drawings and other items are not currently available offline," explains Google.


Another downside is that you can't edit your documents and spreadsheets, a feature that was available in the Gears implementation.


Right now, offline Google Docs is very limited and can only be used to access some of your documents and spreadsheets. It's interesting to notice that the apps powered by Gears were a lot more powerful and worked in other browsers: Firefox, Safari, IE. Maybe Google shouldn't have deprecated Gears and disabled the features that used Gears until the HTML5 implementations were good enough.

»»  read more

Switch to the Classic Google Search Interface on a Tablet

Google's search interface for tablets is great, but it lacks some of the features from the regular interface. One of the most important missing features is the link to the cached search results. Sometimes a site goes down, a page changes a lot or redirects you to a stripped-down mobile interface and Google's cache is really useful.



Now you can switch between the tablet interface and the classic interface using a link displayed at the bottom of the search results page: "View Google in: Tablet | Classic". The nice thing is that Google remembers the query and sends you to the same page of results.







Other missing features from the tablet interface: the number of search results, the link to the advanced search page, the "something different" section, the smart sidebar that shows the most relevant specialized search engines and options, while hiding the other features. While these options are still available in the tablet interface, Google no longer highlights those that are the most relevant.



To switch to the classic interface, Google adds "&nota=1" to the URL (there's a similar parameter for the mobile interface: "&nomo=1"). While there's no way to permanently switch to the classic interface, you can bookmark this URL to access it: http:/www.google.com/webhp?nota=1.

»»  read more

Google Desktop Will Be Discontinued

One year ago, I wondered why Google Desktop is still available for download. Most operating systems include desktop search features and have support for gadgets, one of Google Desktop's built-in gadgets was broken and Google was supposed to encourage people to upload their files to online services like Google Drive Google Docs.



Probably the last post from Google Desktop's blog announces that the software will be discontinued.

Desktop has been used by tens of millions of people and we've been humbled by its usage and great user feedback. However, over the past seven years we've also witnessed some big changes in how users store and access their own data, with many moving to web-based applications. There has been a significant shift from local to cloud-based storage and computing, as well as integration of Google Desktop functionality (like local search) into most modern operating systems. This is a positive development for users and we’re excited that most people now have instant access to their personal information. As such, we'll be discontinuing support for Google Desktop, including all of the associated APIs, services, plugins and gadgets.



As of September 14, Google Desktop will no longer be available for download, and existing installations will not be updated to include new features or fixes.

Google Desktop showed that it's possible to merge two completely different search features: a Web search engine and a tool for searching the documents from your computer. Showing an OneBox with results from your own computer surprised many users, who wondered whether Google uploaded all their documents to index them. Obviously, this wasn't true, but the result was impressive. It's strange to see that Google doesn't offer an OneBox with search results from Google Docs, Picasa Web Albums, Gmail and other services that store your data.





Google Desktop's original codename was "Total Recall". Niniane Wang, a former Google engineer who worked on Google Desktop Search, has some great stories from the first year of developing the software. "Our team consisted of five engineers. We were a close-knit bunch. In the first 3 months, we hashed out what we would build, wrote 13 design docs, and implemented most of the features of the product. It was one of the most productive 3 months of my career."



Another Google product that will disappear is Google Pack, a collection of software recommended by Google. "Google Pack was introduced in 2005 to make it easy to download and install a package of Google and third-party applications that helped users get the most out of their computers. Google Pack was responsible for fueling 100s of millions of software downloads. A lot has changed in the last six years. Virtually all new applications and services are now on the web."



In fact, the list of products that will be closed is impressive: Aardvark, Fast Flip, Image Labeler, Google Notebook (all the notes will be exported to Google Docs), Sidewiki, Subscribed Link. There's a lot of cruft that needs to be removed and many of the things that made the old Google tick will disappear. It's the beginning of a new era for Google and the past has to be left behind to create a better future. Most likely, in a few months you'll realize that Google is a completely different company and Google+ is a lot more than just the name of a service. It's the new iGoogle, the new Google Labs, the new Google Desktop, the new Google Pack - the platform that will include Google's most interesting apps, will aggregate all your data and make it more useful with the help of your friends. It takes some getting used to.



{ Thanks, Stefan. }

»»  read more

Chrome's Spell Checker Gets Smarter

Just like Firefox, Chrome doesn't have a smart spell checker. It uses a dictionary and it shows spelling suggestions for the words that aren't included in the dictionary. Chrome's suggestions aren't always great because they ignore the context.





Google has an excellent spell checker that's used in Google Search, but Chrome's team avoided using it because of privacy concerns. It seems that Google changed its mind and some of Chrome's spelling suggestions will be obtained from Google's "did you mean" service.





A future update will "integrate the Spelling service (a.k.a. 'Did you mean') to a context-menu of Chrome so we can see the spell-check result retrieved from the Spelling service. This change sends a JSON-RPC request to the service in the background and updates a context-menu item." Even if the suggestions can't be displayed instantly, they're a lot better than the suggestions generated by Chrome. An even better idea would be to provide an option to spell check the entire text using Google's online service.

»»  read more

Offline Google Calendar

As previously announced, Google Calendar's offline mode started to be rolled out and some of you can already use it. Just like the offline Gmail, Google Calendar only works in Google Chrome and requires to install an app from the Chrome Web Store to enable an advanced permission for "unlimited" local storage (it's not really unlimited, but the app can use a lot more than 5 MB, the default limit). If you click the wrench icon and select "Offline", Google will ask you to install the app.





After installing the app, Google starts to save the events from your calendars to you computer. To customize the list of calendars that are available offline, click the wrench icon, select "Offline" and then "Offline settings".







When you are offline, most Google Calendar features are disabled, just like in the Gears implementation. You can't create new events, edit the existing events, search your calendars or print your calendars. You can only view some of the events from your calendars and RSVP to existing event invitations. Google Calendar doesn't even save all the events from your calendars. When trying to find older events, Google Calendar showed this message: "Your offline calendar only contains events from Jul 21, 2011 to Jan 5, 2012".





Google says that you can only use offline Google Calendar for one account, even if you use multiple sign-in. Google Apps users can try this feature, but only if the admins have switched to the new infrastructure. "To disable your offline access, click the gear icon and select Disable offline calendar from the drop-down menu. This will disable offline access and remove any data stored on your computer."



While it's nice that the offline Google Calendar is not a separate app, the offline mode is read-only and doesn't even sync all your events. Google should let you search, create and edit events and add support for other browsers.



{ Thanks, Scotty. }

»»  read more