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Google. I've tried to use DDG several times in the past, and while the product works well, Google has the "familiarity effect" baked into its search. I've been

Google. I've tried to use DDG several times in the past, and while the product works well, Google has the "familiarity effect" baked into its search. I've been conditioned for nearly two decades by Google's layout and visual cues. At a moment when I'm uncertain of something and am searching for an answer, the last thing I want is to be uncertain/unfamiliar with the search tool itself. Those stacking of anxieties, however small, is why I think people continue to use Google.

joefarish 9y ago
I had exactly the same problem when I tried to move to DDG. The 'Basic' theme looks quite similar to Google's search results. After trying DDG with this theme I was able to make the switch stick.
newscracker 9y ago
This probably may not help, but I'm just putting it here so that anyone reading this may benefit from it. If you use Firefox, there's an extension called Stylish [1] that lets you change the look of any site (Stylish is to CSS what GreaseMonkey is to JavaScript). The site userstyles.org has community contributed styles for many sites. Here's the list for all the themes available to style DDG. [2] There are even styles for a multi-column result page. This can only change the look of the site by using the content on the page, but cannot provide missing features. Whether that's a UX improvement or not will depend on the style and the user. [1]: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/stylish/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/stylish/ [2]: https://userstyles.org/styles/browse?search_terms=duckduckgo https://userstyles.org/styles/browse?search_terms=duckduckgo