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Google web UX has gotten horrific. I used to visit Google News multiple times per day. Then the UX went to hell there too. Each iteration became worse. Afte

Google web UX has gotten horrific. I used to visit Google News multiple times per day. Then the UX went to hell there too. Each iteration became worse. After the latest changes, it became so unbearably hideous and clunky that I couldn't stand it anymore. I got mad every time I loaded the site. But years of keyboard memory still had me typing in the URL constantly, getting mad every time it loaded up. I finally black holed it in /etc/hosts to break the habit. Gmail is in a similar state now. The new UI is hideous and clunky. And on the engineering side, it takes multiple seconds to load up. I thought Googlers were supposed to be known for their engineering competence? Calendar? Bleh. It's still in a tolerable state, but visually the previous release was easier to work with. Bring back contrast. Bring back visual dividers. Stop with the clown buttons like the mega "Compose"... these are tools we use for years and we had our first-run experiences over a decade ago. Fire whoever is driving your god awful UX on web.

TeMPOraL 8y ago
What's worse, every other web shop will be copying this yet another Google UX "innovation" in short order. I'd say Google is in no smart part responsible for the website bloat and general degradation of UX, just by setting example.
- pyman 8y ago
  Google is famous for producing terrible, unusable UIs. Google Wave, Analytics, Gmail, Notes, Drive, etc. The lack of consistency and common sense is unbelievable. The only reason why Android has a user-friendly UI is because Google copied the design from Apple in 2007.
Udik 8y ago
> Fire whoever is driving your god awful UX on web. I have the feeling that UX specialists are actually the problem. When you employ people to work on UX and design, well, they will work on it, even if there is nothing to do. So you get periodic redesigns that improve nothing but justify the existence of a bunch of people whose purpose in life is to propose UX changes.
- snackman7 8y ago
  Interesting point. But could they solve the issue?
  - tarboreus 8y ago
    Fire 80% of the frontend engineers and save a buck?
reeeprgenx 8y ago
UX Pro here. Google pays senior UX folks an average $160,000 they have "degrees" from third rate Unis like Stanford and Cal Poly tech. How dumb can they be? Do you think they will ever make any money?
- phnk 8y ago
  Skipping the "UX Pro" creds, I trust that the rest of your post is correct: Google has well-paid UX engineers from the best places. That's precisely what I find scary about those UX changes: they to run counter-current of everything I value in UX (clean and compact vs. bloated and spread out).
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - dave333 8y ago
    UX will eventually become fully personalized to the user's preference rather than the latest fashion vaguely branded to the site owner. If they could figure out how to personalize the UX as well as they personalize ads...
- Spooky23 8y ago
  Bad websites don’t imply dumb UX people, more likely bad incentives and objectives. The new GMail seems like a more functional “new Reddit”. It achieves a certain look and was probably metric driven, but didn’t really address what users care about. As a casual GMail user, I like it. But it would drive me crazy if I had to work with it all day with my work mail volume.
- natch 8y ago
  I wouldn’t call Stanford third rate for UX. That being said, I suspect there are too many lazy, entitled, people at Google.
colanderman 8y ago
Not to mention Maps forces the god-awful "3D" satellite view on you all the time now. It makes investigating forested areas an exercise in frustration. I can't see any details through the mess of origami trees.
ProblemFactory 8y ago
> Bring back contrast. Bring back visual dividers. The "random content boxes and buttons floating in a sea of pure white" seems to be the latest awful trend in web design. I get that borders and shadows are out of style, but they are necessary for visually grouping things together.

TeMPOraL 8y ago

What's worse, every other web shop will be copying this yet another Google UX "innovation" in short order. I'd say Google is in no smart part responsible for the website bloat and general degradation of UX, just by setting example.

pyman 8y ago
Google is famous for producing terrible, unusable UIs. Google Wave, Analytics, Gmail, Notes, Drive, etc. The lack of consistency and common sense is unbelievable. The only reason why Android has a user-friendly UI is because Google copied the design from Apple in 2007.

Udik 8y ago

> Fire whoever is driving your god awful UX on web. I have the feeling that UX specialists are actually the problem. When you employ people to work on UX and design, well, they will work on it, even if there is nothing to do. So you get periodic redesigns that improve nothing but justify the existence of a bunch of people whose purpose in life is to propose UX changes.

snackman7 8y ago
Interesting point. But could they solve the issue?
- tarboreus 8y ago
  Fire 80% of the frontend engineers and save a buck?

reeeprgenx 8y ago

UX Pro here. Google pays senior UX folks an average $160,000 they have "degrees" from third rate Unis like Stanford and Cal Poly tech. How dumb can they be? Do you think they will ever make any money?

phnk 8y ago
Skipping the "UX Pro" creds, I trust that the rest of your post is correct: Google has well-paid UX engineers from the best places. That's precisely what I find scary about those UX changes: they to run counter-current of everything I value in UX (clean and compact vs. bloated and spread out).
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- dave333 8y ago
  UX will eventually become fully personalized to the user's preference rather than the latest fashion vaguely branded to the site owner. If they could figure out how to personalize the UX as well as they personalize ads...
Spooky23 8y ago
Bad websites don’t imply dumb UX people, more likely bad incentives and objectives. The new GMail seems like a more functional “new Reddit”. It achieves a certain look and was probably metric driven, but didn’t really address what users care about. As a casual GMail user, I like it. But it would drive me crazy if I had to work with it all day with my work mail volume.
natch 8y ago
I wouldn’t call Stanford third rate for UX. That being said, I suspect there are too many lazy, entitled, people at Google.

colanderman 8y ago

Not to mention Maps forces the god-awful "3D" satellite view on you all the time now. It makes investigating forested areas an exercise in frustration. I can't see any details through the mess of origami trees.

ProblemFactory 8y ago

> Bring back contrast. Bring back visual dividers. The "random content boxes and buttons floating in a sea of pure white" seems to be the latest awful trend in web design. I get that borders and shadows are out of style, but they are necessary for visually grouping things together.