Thursday 28 April 2011

Seriously, move it back, or at least give users th...

Redesigns happen, but the good thing about the old Google news is that it gave the top few stories in a section and if you wanted more you could click through.  All the center column is now is a long list.  That means the only useful part is the right column - which is cluttered before any categories are added.
This new formatting is incredibly atrocious—Google needs to learn to not try to fix what isn't broken. If they think that the new formatting is an improvement of any kind, they couldn't be more wrong. It looks like they simply removed any formatting that was there in the first place and didn't fix it....Bring back the old layout: one of the reasons I gravitated to Google News was because it had several top stories and then had more articles in various columns/sections as you scrolled down. I could get a decent sampling of all the news this way.

The new set up is counter-intuitive and does not allow me to simply peruse through headlines as easily as before. I would be willing to try it out, if it made more sense or made things easier, but overall, the inability to change it back makes me more irritated than anything else.

Some of the people in this post were asking for a comparison screen shotSee screen shot comparison here: New news is bad news.  Not coming back.It SUCKS! Please put it back, or give me an option to display it the old way. Who needs a news page with nothing but headlines? I like scanning the tidbits of the story before I waste time clicking through. Also, I was enjoying the quick-flip at the bottom. I didn't realize Google used production pages for experiments, but it's enough to make me find another source. Put it back, or loose a user! I hate it. I used to go more than once per hour to google news, but now I have looked into other news services. Still I haven't found one as good as google news, but I really dislike the new layout so much that now I go one or two times per day because its almost impossible to me to find the news that I like, or may like.Google is getting WAY too big for its britches.One more day, and then I am out of here - Probably to Yahoo, or someone who cares about MY choices.Amazing. Nearly all of the feedback HATES the new design.

The new design also produces a lot of junk articles.

Google's attitude? Screw the users. Google won't change the design.

Here's another Google screwup, just like Buzz.

Why not give us an option to opt out of this "experiment"?

Or is the experiment to see how long before we give up using Google altogether?

New design is horrific, what were they thinking? Makes Huffington Post look like a Nobel Prize design.

In other words, following in the great tradition of Buzz, Google should immediately roll this out to everybody. Hey, we're Google, got a problem with that?

Worst layout ever, I will never use google news if it doesn't go back to the original layout. I DID opt out.  I am back (Thank HEAVENS) to a real news page.Delete your cookies for Google.

Deleting cookies

You can delete all or some cookies in Internet Explorer.

To delete a single cookie

In Internet Explorer, click the Tools button, and then click Internet Options. On the General tab, under Browsing history, click Settings. Click the View files button. Click the Name column heading to sort all the files alphabetically, and then scroll down until you see files that begin with the prefix Cookie:. All cookies will have that prefix, and they usually contain the name of the website that created the cookie. So, look for something that says cookie:YOURNAME@Google something Right-click the cookie you want to delete, click Delete, and then click Yes. Close the window that contains the list of files, and then click OK twice to return to Internet ExplorerThe redesign is terrible. Please revert back to previous version.I was so pissed off i actually went to yahoo, somthing i swore i would never do and it is clear where google got their inspiration from since they are almost identical. The yahoo page sucks just as bad as this new bullshit layout. The first reviews and furious comments regarding this "experiment" were posted on Feb 4th, why the F*** is this not being addressed? Google is seriously the next Microsoft, fixing shit that is not broken and then pretending to actually listen to all of the sheep complain. FUCK YOU GOOGLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I also do not like the new design. Deleting all the google.com cookies as described in an earlier post "fixed" the problem for me (brought back my customized news page).

As others have mentioned, I wish there had been an easier, more "visible" way to opt-out.

The new design looks awful!!! Please revert back to the old design as it's much easier to navigate.
Seriously, move it back, or at least give users the option to choose.  What, exactly, is the experiment?  Where was the notice, or option to opt in?  Based on the feedback that I'm seeing, you're trying to see how far you can aggravate people before they move.  Please give us the option to opt out.I am sad to report that while deleting the cookies worked for me for a period of approximately two weeks, the redesigned layout came back uninvited.  I am afraid that this means that Google is expanding the scope of this ill conceived "experiment."  What is most disheartening is that there has been no response or comment by the Google staff since Feb 4.  Almost all the feedback posted here has been negative, but Google remains silent.  Reluctantly, I've been looking for alternative news aggregators.  Perhaps not coincidentally, the Bing news page also uses an ungrouped large central column like the new Google News layout.  Among alternatives, the best I've found is reuters.com.  Because we, as users, do not pay for Google News we have no effective way to voice our dissatisfaction except to go elsewhere.  Perhaps the true experiment here is not with the page layout, but with what abuse we Google users will tolerate.Awful. Awful Awful.  How can I get my old page back? Deleting cookies did not work for me either. Very angry not to have been given a choice.  Wasted half an evening trying to "fix" page, scrolling through endless articles in which I have no interest whatsoever, unable to find the sections I want. What are you thinking?
Sigh.....    I uderstand that I don't pay for any of this, at least not in cash, so I have no "rights" in this situation, but this is so annoying.  The effects, of Google's "news experiment", that they SHOULD be evalutaing are not how users feel about the usability of the new layout, but rather user's reaction to the forced change; that no one wants these types of changes forced on them.  They don't want their home page unneccesarily turned upside down, and they don't want to feel led around by the nose (with all the bovine implications) with something as fundamental as the FIRST THING THEY SEE every time they open a browser.  Is that what the expeiment is actually about: "How important are user's home pages to them"?There are two duscussions running about Google's "news experiment".  Among approximately 80 comments, only one post wasn't actually angry, and even that commenter didn't like the changes.  Some commenters are angry, and offer comments about usability, but most commenters are just angry;  angry at having this thrust in their faces, angry at being forced to learn a new interface for which there is no apparent benefit, and, in fact seems to provide considerable detriment.In light of Google's lack of response to both of these threads, I've changed my home page to msn.com.  Another users suggested that Reuters website is customizable in a manner similar to Google's old News layout.  I may try that, but I'm done here.I REALLY don't like the "new" Google news page.  Firefox goes straight to the new news page.  IE goes to the old format.  I will be using IE until Google gets their heads out of their collective A$$ and at least gives users an option to switch between the two formats.
Finally, the experiment is over. The idiot designer got a promotion. My news page returned to its normal (and much better) layout.

If Google wants to make an improvement, get rid of the default Top Stories section at the top of the page. Let us define our own keywords for every section.

Instead of having the top stories organized by category and all categories visible at the same time, I have to click through each one at a time. I'm not seeing the improvement here, in fact it's really turning me off from Google news. Fast Flip is the greatest thing google has ever done!!! Fast Flip is the future of web surfing especially for news sites.If Fast Flip is what this debacle is called, here is a heartfelt, cumulative & collective bird flip to Google from all of us here on this site.1)  The suggestion that those of us who are displeased should flush our cookies is idiotic and patronizing.   A PROMINENT button saying "RESTORE" would have been how hard to code?
2)  You want feedback?  Don't make me jump through 4 screens to give it.
3)  Want to surprise us people with Beta "experiments"?  Don't!  I don't need goddamn surprises.
4)  Oh yeah... feedback.  If you guys need someone to tell you what a piece of shit your redesign is... you should be fired.
Terrible design, I'm totally surprised by Google. they are usually pretty good at coming up with better products not worse ones. Where did my sections go? Oh - the left panel? Now I have to make multiple clicks to see the news I had customized before in one single comprehensive page. If there was some thought as to how this new layout would be "better" I wish they would have made some note of it. Instead I got dropped onto a page that made no sense. I cleared my cookies and cache and now it's back to what is more helpful to me. If it happens again, I'm gone...To DATABONG .... thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!
I really dont like this new outlook design crap.  I cant read news at google.  Please change back my layout or at least show us how to do it I am extremely unhappy with it and I would like the old layout back this is really harassing people like me who read google news everyday.  I wont be coming to google and reading news ever again if it doesnt get back to normal.Horrible design, cluttered, distracting, dumbed down and too damned "widgetized".  I don't want to (and simply won't) do a mouse-hover over every item just to see some context. The sidebars are out of hand. It's annoying as hell to see a "progress indicator" on the personalization -- Come on people, you're making it seem as if I'm morally obliged to personalize the thing. It should be an option, not a chore and an eyesore.

When I want clutter I go to "igoogle" (rarely) and to Google Reader. News should be simpler and smarter.

I can't understand why you folks in Googleville keep up with these endless, counter-productive tweaks to your products when you leave many basic, simple, commonsense improvements undone.

I have put up with this idiotic experiment for a week now and enough is enough.How long do your experiments run before you realize that its not working and you go back to what worked fine in the first place??? Kinda reminds me of BP,they dont listen either.Oh well guess its off to Yahoo news.Bye bye.I am done with google news.  I shouldn't have to spend all this time messing with their website because of their stupidity.  There is plenty of evidence that users want the old format back and they have chosen to ignore it.  I'm voting with my web surfing ability.  Someone else will take my web news traffic.  I'm sure I'll hear about it when and if google news reverts back.PLEASE REMOVE THE IMAGE BACKGROUND ON HOME PAGE.  THIS IS HORRIBLE.  WE WANT OPTIONS.  STOP COPYING BING!!Not happy about this experiment. I tried, I really tried but the new format is too bad. Too much wasted space and not enough glancable content. The 2 column format was way more readable. So now, how do I put it back withouth nuking all of my browser's cookies?Here's how to bring back the old news format in IE 81.  Go to the Google news page in IE2.  Hit F12 to bring up IE's developer tools window3.  Select the Cache menu then select "clear domain cookies'4. Close the IE windows and re-launch Google newsThis will nuke just the Google cookies and reset the news back to the old format.Before running such huge experiments, you should try to run a focus group between your users, you can pre-test ideas without creating a major pain around the world.Big lesson today, research more about your users preferences, and as Coca-Cola learned sometime ago, even if you are Coca-Cola, do not try to change the Coke flavour!!!Even if you are Google, do not get out of the simple search engine homepage!!! That is why your users love you!!! Simplicity!!!PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE revert it back to how it was!  I used to go to news.google.com MANY MANY times a day and now I won't go back if it remains like that!  I WON'T GO BACK EVER AGAIN!  I'LL GO TO BING I SWEAR!You guys really, really screwed up.  Revert or I stop using Google, period.
PLEASE (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) give us the option to completely get rid of ALL of the following sections:* Greater New York (i.e., local news)I used to be able to customize Google News to only show the sections which *I* am interested in. Now, there is all of this extra, annoying junk which completely ruins the news page for me.It would be OK if we had a choice about whether we could see this experimental stuff, but currently, there is no way to get rid of it, and THAT IS ***TOTALLY*** UNACCEPTABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Sorry for shouting, but this is really infuriating.If you folks at Google want to release an experimental look and feel, that's fine. But you should also provide a way for us users to disable it if we don't want to see it. It is at best amateurish and at worst condescendingly arrogant to not allow us a way to remove these new features in your experimental software.The Google employee who made the decision to not allow us to disable this experimental stuff should be summarily fired.Please *immediately* give us a way to disable all of the sections that I mentioned above.I'd also like to add that it is rather dishonest to call all of this new stuff "personalization".In the past, I could choose which items would appear or not appear on my Google News page. Now, there are all of these sections which I can't get rid of. In other words, this new, experimental stuff is much *less* personalizable than before.Or perhaps you folks at Google are arrogantly thinking that *you* know how to "personalize" things for me better than I do. I hope I'm wrong about this. I'd hate for Google to become another Apple.PS: I deleted all google-related cookies and restarted my browser, but I'm still seeing the experimental Google News page. I'm using the Google Chrome browser under Windows.Go to: Choose a category All Discussions Google News Suggestions Google News Users - Troubleshooting How to use Google News Google News Publishers - Sitemaps Google News Publishers - Troubleshooting Google Living Stories - Troubleshooting The Google News redesign Quality of Google News Sites