Google Tweaks Interface
Google added a copyright notice to the bottom if its search page as an interface feature. In its early days, the company asked some focus group participants to search for information using its site. But many people, when they went to Google, did nothing for a minute or two.
When asked why, these apparent procrastinators said they were waiting for the rest of the site to load.
So, the company thought that by putting a copyright notice on its page--something usually found only at the bottom of a fully loaded page--perhaps people would get the hint that the spartan page was fully loaded.
I can see how this may be a legit issue. When I'm on the computer but not fully paying attention, I'll glance at the vertical scroll bar to see if a page is loaded completely (if there's no scrollbar or if the scrollbar is still re-sizing itself, it ain't done yet). With Google, the page is so short, that a vertical scrollbar never appears even when fully loaded (except at small resolutions). Interesting problem.
When asked why, these apparent procrastinators said they were waiting for the rest of the site to load.
So, the company thought that by putting a copyright notice on its page--something usually found only at the bottom of a fully loaded page--perhaps people would get the hint that the spartan page was fully loaded.
I can see how this may be a legit issue. When I'm on the computer but not fully paying attention, I'll glance at the vertical scroll bar to see if a page is loaded completely (if there's no scrollbar or if the scrollbar is still re-sizing itself, it ain't done yet). With Google, the page is so short, that a vertical scrollbar never appears even when fully loaded (except at small resolutions). Interesting problem.
# | July 22, 2003