screenshots via GoogleThe new Google Plus redesign is clean and easy to navigate.Google gave its flagship social network, Google Plus, a makeover Wednesday, unveiling a major redesign of the service.
The new design is much prettier and easier to navigate than its predecessor.
If Google can learn anything from the $1 billion sale of Instagram to Facebook this week, it's that many people see mobile as one of the most important platforms for sharing on social networks. The Web, it seems, is becoming a lean-back viewing experience.
Google made its social network site on the Web cleaner and smoother, with soft gray tones that flow into a central stream of updates from users. It presents a neat stack of icons that sit off to the left of the screen, allowing people to jump quickly to different areas of Google Plus. The options include Hangouts, the Google group video chat; Google Plus Photos; Google Circles; and Games.
The input box to share updates, links or photos is also much smaller. In the past, this input area was so large it seemed to take up a majority of the Web browser window when typing.
Photos have become a focus of the new Google Plus design. Images shared in the stream are presented in a large view and flow into the Google Plus stream seamlessly. Google has also hidden icons on the page to avoid cluttering up the site. Hovering over the photo icon, for example, will present more icons to add photos or view albums.
Photos are clearly a focus for Google Plus; they are presented in a slick and simple way on the site.In a blog post on the company's Web site, titled "Toward a simpler, more beautiful Google," Vic Gundotra, a Google senior vice president, wrote about some of the design changes and noted that 170 million people had upgraded to Google Plus.
"A critical piece of this social layer is a design that grows alongside our aspirations," Mr. Gundotra wrote. "So today we're introducing a more functional and flexible version of Google Plus. We think you'll find it easier to use and nicer to look at, but most importantly, it accelerates our efforts to create a simpler, more beautiful Google."
In the past the Google Plus design has come under fire from user experience experts. Some complained that it was clunky and difficult to navigate; others that Google designs were too "dull." Last month I wrote a piece asking if Google Plus's problem was one of design, too.
But the new design isn't all party hats and balloons. The new design of Google Plus does not extend to the mobile experience, yet. Kat Eller, a Google spokeswoman, said via e-mail, "Today, the mobile experience will not change, but we are looking at ways to integrate these changes into mobile devices."
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