14may2002

Google thoughts


UI is completely scientific
every change is measured and analysed
they can do this because:
- muchos traffic
- users repeat many times

the map/address/whatever thing is called 'onebox'
analogy: like a swiss army knife. you don't want all tools open at the same time. onebox tries to pop open correct tool.

they're *query* focussed
statistical analysis of what queries people run, and what they want

end goal: 1 query produces 1 page of what the answer for the user

interesting analysis: good clicks and bad clicks. if someone clicks, then comes back quickly and clicks again, that first click was bad.

i don't think they're making best use of onebox. they aren't considering how to teach the user to explore and remember the landscape.

new things coming up: google kids, google news proper [150 local news things from all over the US].

tabs only scale to 6. if a tab doesn't get >5% (for example) it shouldn't be on the front page.

i find it interesting that they don't go the portal approach. it's an attempt to provide the answer the user expects.

science, science, science. everything measured. ask users to look for a link and check they can.