Comments on: Time to Eat My Words: The Search Box Grows http://irgupf.com/2009/09/10/time-to-eat-my-words-the-search-box-grows/ Information Retrieval Research, Issues, and Discussion Tue, 14 Jun 2011 14:26:42 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 By: jeremy http://irgupf.com/2009/09/10/time-to-eat-my-words-the-search-box-grows/comment-page-1/#comment-4520 jeremy Wed, 16 Sep 2009 07:13:11 +0000 http://irgupf.com/?p=878#comment-4520 Yes, they did make the font larger. But I got out my digital ruler and measured both the before and after (see this image): http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_7ZYqYi4xigk/SqgeZQO37fI/AAAAAAAAEg4/SzruS1piwMA/s1600-h/new-old-search-next.png And in the before picture, the text takes up 11.7% of the width of the text box. In the after picture, the text takes up 10.5% of the width of the text box. So the text box in the after case is actually wider, as well. Maybe not by a lot, but it is. Yes, they did make the font larger. But I got out my digital ruler and measured both the before and after (see this image):

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_7ZYqYi4xigk/SqgeZQO37fI/AAAAAAAAEg4/SzruS1piwMA/s1600-h/new-old-search-next.png

And in the before picture, the text takes up 11.7% of the width of the text box. In the after picture, the text takes up 10.5% of the width of the text box.

So the text box in the after case is actually wider, as well. Maybe not by a lot, but it is.

]]> By: Gene Golovchinsky http://irgupf.com/2009/09/10/time-to-eat-my-words-the-search-box-grows/comment-page-1/#comment-4519 Gene Golovchinsky Wed, 16 Sep 2009 06:53:22 +0000 http://irgupf.com/?p=878#comment-4519 Err... umm... they just made the font larger; the visible number of characters doesn't appear to have changed. They didn't read Belkin after all. You can spit those words out, Jeremy. Err… umm… they just made the font larger; the visible number of characters doesn’t appear to have changed. They didn’t read Belkin after all. You can spit those words out, Jeremy.

]]> By: jeremy http://irgupf.com/2009/09/10/time-to-eat-my-words-the-search-box-grows/comment-page-1/#comment-4395 jeremy Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:19:15 +0000 http://irgupf.com/?p=878#comment-4395 Well, if I've got a long query, and it's scrolling past the end of the box, I can't really see my query clearly, either. So.. maybe both? Then again, if they were so concerned about poor eyesight, why are their search results bunched up and crammed together on the left 1/3 of my wide-screen monitor? There is so much whitespace on the results page, and the results are tiny relative to the size of my monitor. I end up having to scroll if I want to see more than 3-4 results. Why not just fit those extra results into those vast tracts of empty whitespace, and let me see my results more clearly? Well, if I’ve got a long query, and it’s scrolling past the end of the box, I can’t really see my query clearly, either. So.. maybe both?

Then again, if they were so concerned about poor eyesight, why are their search results bunched up and crammed together on the left 1/3 of my wide-screen monitor? There is so much whitespace on the results page, and the results are tiny relative to the size of my monitor. I end up having to scroll if I want to see more than 3-4 results. Why not just fit those extra results into those vast tracts of empty whitespace, and let me see my results more clearly?

]]> By: Daniel Tunkelang http://irgupf.com/2009/09/10/time-to-eat-my-words-the-search-box-grows/comment-page-1/#comment-4393 Daniel Tunkelang Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:59:41 +0000 http://irgupf.com/?p=878#comment-4393 "The new, larger Google search box features larger text when you type so you can see your query more clearly." So, it's unclear whether they're trying to encourage longer queries, or mostly concerned with the poor eyesight of the user base. “The new, larger Google search box features larger text when you type so you can see your query more clearly.”

So, it’s unclear whether they’re trying to encourage longer queries, or mostly concerned with the poor eyesight of the user base.

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