Google bumps up size of search box

Google has enlarged its search box to make it "easier" for people to use, the company said late Wednesday.

In a blog post, Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president for search products and user experience, said the simple change to the company's home page "symbolizes" its "focus on search." She added that the adjustments to the height and width of the search box makes the company's home page "even easier and more fun to use." Yeah, I don't get it either.

Google said in an e-mail message that the new search box is "roughly double the size of the (original) search box." The company also made its search buttons "more similar" for those viewing Google "on different operating systems and browsers." Even with a larger search box, the company's search still only allows for up to 2,048 characters in a single query.

Here's a side-by-side view of the changes. Click on the link for a larger view.

Updated at 1:34 p.m. PDT to add Google's statements about its changes to Search.

[nickydude]

First of all they should have warned us about this change - Last night i thought something went wrong with my browser and the system fonts
And they have to make it possible for users to chose how to see Google - the old way or the new way - which to me is very ugly and uncomfortable

[Grifter02]

Seek help.

[galeso]

Try "Ctrl"+"-"

[OfficerNelson]

You're not alone. I spent half an hour tweaking my browser font sizes.

[kcoppock]

Haha yeah, I did the same thing. I was on my work computer and thought maybe they'd pushed out some weird patch to IE6 (shudder).

[CaptAdventure]

Earthshattering news!

[joyofsomeone]

Um, actually, i'm glad they put this here... I noticed Google had changed, asked my friend, he said it hadn't, so i was thinking something was wrong with my browser...
So, you know, the news (a system for distributing information) told me what i want to know. Doesn't need to be earthshattering, just useful. :)

[FoggsKnackers]

I am at once deeply saddened yet overjoyed by this shocking yet repulsive event

[jumbodave]

I thought my rapidly deteriorating eye sight had magically improved!!! Guess not...

[Goodbye Helicopter]

once again you get paid for being a journalistic moron.

[McGyver777]

LOL

[ZetaZeta_]

This is a relatively major change to the main page of one of the world's largest tech companies.
Of course this is news.

In related news, I was probably one of the several who checked his page zoom a few times to figure out why it looks really ugly.
At least iGoogle is still small. :x
I can't wait for the public outcry from iGoogle users when they change it. :P

[NocturnalCT]

Call it the Bing effect.

You have to wonder how many person-hours were wasted talking about this at the highest levels. And Ms. Mayer must have had a good laugh in private after that 'more fun to use' bit. What a pile of non-sense. Well, I hope she had a good laugh. If not then she's taking her job a bit too seriously.

Much ado about nothing.

[Been_there_Saw_it_before]

It is not much to get excited about, but the reason I like Google is that its home page is so clean. Yahoo looks like a cluttered mess.

[krosafcheg]

really? did you see http://search.yahoo.com/

[damiandennison]

wow, I wonder if Google painted it bathroom doors red it that will make the tech news? Where is the real tech news?

[OfficerNelson]

Does over 50% of the Western world see Google's bathroom doors on a daily basis?

[nikola99]

Did anyone notice that the button tex is too low on FF and a bit high on IE...Kinda looks ugly.

[TruthWillSetYouFree]

The real reason for this is Larry and Sergey are getting older, their eye site is getting worse, and they needed the bigger fonts to see it better. Can't wait to see what it looks like in 20 years.

[cvaldes1831]

Well, their stock is up 0.92% so I guess it's working.

[JustMe222]

The new changes are terrible! It's so complex, I couldn't figure out how to use it. There goes their search business right down the drain.

[MrZook]

Now, if the google box in my firefox browser changes I might have to swith back to opera.

[Static-X-Machina]

There is really nothing to say to this article. There is only the facial expression of a raised eyebrow and a slightly open mouth.

Oh....wait..... there is something to say. "Why was this covered?" Google is still google.
Slow day in the Cnet news room much?

[mista77]

I so need to go do a search now...dude, sweet.

[i_sam]

what the heck. everyone is freaking out because of a few changes? there's nothing wrong with what they did, and it doesn't make it harder to use. some people need to get a life and to stop worrying about a font size change. it's not like they completely changed the user interface.

[knowles2]

an some people need to learn to tell when people are joking.

[jture]

I didn't even notice.

[dpeters11]

Historically speaking, except for the logo changes for special days, Google changes their front page so infrequently that it really is news when they do change it. I am another that thought by browser went wacky.

[krosafcheg]

Hope now we hav to read even if some one in Google's office sneeze dude i don't know who pay u but come on u can do better than this u cud hav wrote about AMD Rebrands Chips or something worth reading i don't know how u kept u r job even in recession time with this sort of worth less **** any way i do love Google search its not that i don't like it its that its not worth reading specially at cnet

[jrd1mra]

Anyone who has a few years experience in web design and development knows that small changes can have a huge impact on conversion rates, which in Google's case would be getting people to search so they can show them their ads.

Google offers AB testing via their analytic scripts to the general public. I am sure that they offered this page up millions of times over the past months and studied the data and decided to go with it.

Now is it News? At least we are now all aware our browsers are not broken!

[poster48150]

It would be better if Google fixed the actual searching, like not listing pages that don't have any of the searched-for words, or allowing for searching just the Usenet archives without including their "groups".