5 ms·

Chrome Web Store have a new look

81 points by B-Scan 15y ago

simonbrown 15y ago
Most of my extensions don't have enough UI to justify the 1280x800 screenshot it now requires (if you want to update an old extension or upload a new one), so now the extension is hardly visible in them. Edit: Scaling it up looks decent.
- john-n 15y ago
  Really dislike that popup interface used, the popup is not clearly distinguishable from the background. And the font just looks poorly rendered. Like the interface up until that step, its clean, just seems broken when it comes to showing the actual information you want.
- ortatherox 15y ago
  It looks like they don't have to, my favourite chrome extension Viumium just uses a youtube videos as it's header. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/dbepggeogbaibhgnhhndojpepiihcmeb?newlook https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/dbepggeogbaibhgnhh...
galadriel 15y ago
A bit off topic, but NPR chrome app is awesome! http://www.npr.org/webapp http://www.npr.org/webapp If anything, new Chrome store design makes things more discover-able than before.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
dclaysmith 15y ago
Title change suggestion: "Chrome Web Store has a new look"
- JoshTriplett 15y ago
  Possible culprit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_plural#Discretionary_plurals https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_plural#Discretionary_p...
  - alastairpat 15y ago
    I disagree - I speak British English and have never seen Store as a plural possessive before. I think it's just a mistake.
- B-Scan 15y ago
  Sorry, I can't edit now. My bad. Not a native speaker :( If someone can edit it would be great.
lewispb 15y ago
Wow, I thought I'd just stumbled across the Apple App Store. Just look at that breadcrumb navigation!
- jmitcheson 15y ago
  If it was Apple, the buttons would be done with images, and have nice corners with aliasing. None of this horrible CSS business ;)
jacques_chester 15y ago
Look around. It seems as though style changes are being rolled out across the whole Google portfolio -- I've noticed changes to Blogger and Search during the day.
buster 15y ago
Wow, that really looks good, nothing i would have expected from the pre-Page Google.
csomar 15y ago
The problem with the Chrome Web Store is that 90% of the apps there are bullshit. Most of them are simply shortcuts to Web App; which is in my opinion quite disappointing. I was expecting to find applications similar to "Quick Note" (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/mijlebbfndhelmdpmllgcfadlkankhok https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/mijlebbfndhelmdpml...). The application shouldn't be in the cloud. It can save data their and requires an Internet connection to work, but the application should be downloaded and make heavy use of Chrome features. Applications should be picked carefully, and only few should be there. Only the good ones stand out. Actually, it's just a link farm, and a free advertising medium for many Web Apps.
chunkyslink 15y ago
Wow thats one long page. Seriously though I like it. I just kept scrolling and reading, scrolling and reading. I think this worked well as I had no desire to look in any of the categories and just wanted to browse. And browse I did.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
jkn 15y ago
I'm a bit surprised with the positive comments: don't you find the layout confusing? It's hard to scroll horizontally and vertically with the eyes especially with the diverse fonts, colors, etc. making up each app description.
lzm 15y ago
Front page looks good, but I don't really like the popup format for the apps. It feels too cramped.
sudonim 15y ago
I went to the link using safari and got the message: "Sorry, we don't support your browser just yet." Will the chrome web store _ever_ support other browsers? Seems like bad copy otherwise.
- abraham 15y ago
  It is the Chrome web store. Or you you complaining about the "yet"? I assume Google wants to support all modern browsers with the shiny new layout so they can show off all the fun and productive apps you are missing out on.
- azakai 15y ago
  > Will the chrome web store _ever_ support other browsers? It's very confusing. On the one hand, it is the "Chrome Web Store". Not the "Google Web Store", which is what we can assume they would call it if it were meant for all browsers. Just like it isn't "Chrome Maps", it's "Google Maps". So the name implies it is Chrome-only. On the other hand, it does say "we don't support your browser just yet", as you quote from there. My bet is that they will never support other browsers, since apparently they allow applications into the Chrome store that use Chrome-specific technologies (NaCl, for example). So given that, the store's applications will not work in all browsers anyhow. And that is kind of worrying. A chrome-only store for web apps is against the idea of an open web, where any website is accessible from any standards-compliant browser.
  - azakai 15y ago
    To the people modding me down - can you explain why? I thought I gave a fair analysis of the situation. Is there something I'm missing that justifies downmodding me? Please tell me hacker news isn't degenerating into reddit.
sktrdie 15y ago
Wow look at all the games! Are these all made with JavaScript and HTML5?
- abrowne 15y ago
  I doubt it. I know non-game apps can/do use Flash. Remember, Google bundles Flash with Chrome.
  - mmahemoff 15y ago
    At this point, my guess is the majority of games are HTML5 based. Look at all the HTML5 games that came out of Mozilla's Game On contest for example. https://gaming.mozillalabs.com/games/ https://gaming.mozillalabs.com/games/ They can run in whatever technology the browser has installed, which can even include Java applets. Runescape for example. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ajjblpfpopipimofkhbglcoeknpnfijj https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ajjblpfpopipimofkh...
- abraham 15y ago
  They can be made with whatever web technology the developers want to use. I believe however that Angry Birds is HTML5 though.
  - mmahemoff 15y ago
    Yep, it's written in GWT. http://www.quora.com/Angry-Birds-game/How-did-Rovio-build-its-Google-Chrome-version-of-Angry-Birds http://www.quora.com/Angry-Birds-game/How-did-Rovio-build-it...
jaredsohn 15y ago
I was hoping that they restored the review ordering back to how it was. (Google is aware of this and working on a fix (there is talk on the Chrome extension developers mailing list); just hoped to see the fix now.) I believe they now sort them by 'usefulness' when up until a month ago or so they sorted them by date. The current order is annoying because 1) the top reviews tend to be older and often talk about old bugs giving new potential users inaccurate impressions, 2) it is harder to see the new reviews (although the developer can log into a different interface and see them sorted by date), and 3) it makes conversations between the developer and users harder to follow. The reason the last point is relevant is that for many users posting a review is the most obvious way to mention bugs. They should let developers respond to individual reviews and provide optional links to a bug tracker and a forum to better move traffic there. UPDATE: Noticed that it now only allows you to write one 'review' so a developer can no longer respond multiple times; hopefully some of the above suggestions will be implemented. A couple of other unrelated changes I noticed: * They include your Google profile info when you write a review; not sure if you can leave a review anonymously (beyond having an anonymous Google profile) anymore. * They no longer show a count of how many people +1ed it (but still let you do so from there.)
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- diamondhead 15y ago
  I agree. First couple of comments in my app's page are my replies to the users questions. Which look nonsense since the questions are in random order...
Kylekramer 15y ago
Looks pretty and I like the general trend of Google's new design, but it horribly breaks search (example: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/search/gmail?newlook https://chrome.google.com/webstore/search/gmail?newlook). I'd rather having functioning ugly over broken sleek.
jarek-foksa 15y ago
The contrast between the body text and background is way too low (designers, please read http://contrastrebellion.com/ http://contrastrebellion.com/). Having one scrolled window inside another scrolled window also seems to be a bad idea, but overall this is a great improvement over the old design.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
ryanwhitney 15y ago
Note: You aren't seeing the new design unless you're using Chrome.
dpcan 15y ago
You know when you go to Wal-Mart and there's that giant basket full of $5 movies? There "may" be a gem in there, but you have to stack and pile them all over the place, dig through loads of repeat garbage, and just hope something is in there you want. After 5 minutes you're frustrated because you just wasted your time. The Chrome Web Store is a pile of apps - especially games. Except there's no way to pile, sort, and cart them. If you could at least STAR a game so you could go back and look at the ones you've given a STAR to later, then it would be helpful. G+1 doesn't help because I don't want to +1 something that may suck. You CAN create a bookmark while a pop-up of the app is showing, and when you return to that bookmark, the app popup shows. But you know what would make sense because it's the way SHOPPING HAS BEEN DONE FOREVER? A ton of categories and sorting methods so you can browse small niches of apps you are interested in, like Platform games, or RPG games, or Sports games. Not on the Chrome Web Store. Nope. Just GAMES. That's it. GAMES. Thomas the Train is right next to Counter Strike. Ridiculous.
adrianwaj 15y ago
I don't like it. Not enough whitespace, too colorful. I think it'd be better if the middle column was a scrollable list and the right column was fixed and display information when middle column boxes hovered. Also, if I were looking for browser addons, I'd be looking for a "Chrome Extensions Center." "Chrome Web Store" could mean many things. Web could mean anything so it should be omitted, and store is misleading if things are free.
- jaredsohn 15y ago
  Google had something like a Chrome Extensions Center before this but then added apps that you can pay for and started calling it a store. Apple's Appstore also calls itself a store, yet many of the downloads are free so calling it that is not misleading, at least in a new way. I imagine it is called a 'web store' since other stores tend to be either mobile (Apple, Android, ...) or desktop (Mac App Store, new Windows 8 Store coming next year) and it promotes the idea of a webbrowser being an operating system (albeit it is redundant).

81 points by B-Scan 15y ago

Most of my extensions don't have enough UI to justify the 1280x800 screenshot it now requires (if you want to update an old extension or upload a new one), so now the extension is hardly visible in them. Edit: Scaling it up looks decent.

john-n 15y ago
Really dislike that popup interface used, the popup is not clearly distinguishable from the background. And the font just looks poorly rendered. Like the interface up until that step, its clean, just seems broken when it comes to showing the actual information you want.
ortatherox 15y ago
It looks like they don't have to, my favourite chrome extension Viumium just uses a youtube videos as it's header. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/dbepggeogbaibhgnhhndojpepiihcmeb?newlook https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/dbepggeogbaibhgnhh...

galadriel 15y ago

A bit off topic, but NPR chrome app is awesome! http://www.npr.org/webapp http://www.npr.org/webapp If anything, new Chrome store design makes things more discover-able than before.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

dclaysmith 15y ago

Title change suggestion: "Chrome Web Store has a new look"

JoshTriplett 15y ago
Possible culprit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_plural#Discretionary_plurals https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_plural#Discretionary_p...
- alastairpat 15y ago
  I disagree - I speak British English and have never seen Store as a plural possessive before. I think it's just a mistake.
B-Scan 15y ago
Sorry, I can't edit now. My bad. Not a native speaker :( If someone can edit it would be great.

lewispb 15y ago

Wow, I thought I'd just stumbled across the Apple App Store. Just look at that breadcrumb navigation!

jmitcheson 15y ago
If it was Apple, the buttons would be done with images, and have nice corners with aliasing. None of this horrible CSS business ;)

jacques_chester 15y ago

Look around. It seems as though style changes are being rolled out across the whole Google portfolio -- I've noticed changes to Blogger and Search during the day.

buster 15y ago

Wow, that really looks good, nothing i would have expected from the pre-Page Google.

csomar 15y ago

The problem with the Chrome Web Store is that 90% of the apps there are bullshit. Most of them are simply shortcuts to Web App; which is in my opinion quite disappointing. I was expecting to find applications similar to "Quick Note" (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/mijlebbfndhelmdpmllgcfadlkankhok https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/mijlebbfndhelmdpml...). The application shouldn't be in the cloud. It can save data their and requires an Internet connection to work, but the application should be downloaded and make heavy use of Chrome features. Applications should be picked carefully, and only few should be there. Only the good ones stand out. Actually, it's just a link farm, and a free advertising medium for many Web Apps.

chunkyslink 15y ago

Wow thats one long page. Seriously though I like it. I just kept scrolling and reading, scrolling and reading. I think this worked well as I had no desire to look in any of the categories and just wanted to browse. And browse I did.

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]

jkn 15y ago

I'm a bit surprised with the positive comments: don't you find the layout confusing? It's hard to scroll horizontally and vertically with the eyes especially with the diverse fonts, colors, etc. making up each app description.

lzm 15y ago

Front page looks good, but I don't really like the popup format for the apps. It feels too cramped.

sudonim 15y ago

I went to the link using safari and got the message: "Sorry, we don't support your browser just yet." Will the chrome web store _ever_ support other browsers? Seems like bad copy otherwise.

abraham 15y ago
It is the Chrome web store. Or you you complaining about the "yet"? I assume Google wants to support all modern browsers with the shiny new layout so they can show off all the fun and productive apps you are missing out on.
azakai 15y ago
> Will the chrome web store _ever_ support other browsers? It's very confusing. On the one hand, it is the "Chrome Web Store". Not the "Google Web Store", which is what we can assume they would call it if it were meant for all browsers. Just like it isn't "Chrome Maps", it's "Google Maps". So the name implies it is Chrome-only. On the other hand, it does say "we don't support your browser just yet", as you quote from there. My bet is that they will never support other browsers, since apparently they allow applications into the Chrome store that use Chrome-specific technologies (NaCl, for example). So given that, the store's applications will not work in all browsers anyhow. And that is kind of worrying. A chrome-only store for web apps is against the idea of an open web, where any website is accessible from any standards-compliant browser.
- azakai 15y ago
  To the people modding me down - can you explain why? I thought I gave a fair analysis of the situation. Is there something I'm missing that justifies downmodding me? Please tell me hacker news isn't degenerating into reddit.

sktrdie 15y ago

Wow look at all the games! Are these all made with JavaScript and HTML5?

abrowne 15y ago
I doubt it. I know non-game apps can/do use Flash. Remember, Google bundles Flash with Chrome.
- mmahemoff 15y ago
  At this point, my guess is the majority of games are HTML5 based. Look at all the HTML5 games that came out of Mozilla's Game On contest for example. https://gaming.mozillalabs.com/games/ https://gaming.mozillalabs.com/games/ They can run in whatever technology the browser has installed, which can even include Java applets. Runescape for example. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ajjblpfpopipimofkhbglcoeknpnfijj https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ajjblpfpopipimofkh...
abraham 15y ago
They can be made with whatever web technology the developers want to use. I believe however that Angry Birds is HTML5 though.
- mmahemoff 15y ago
  Yep, it's written in GWT. http://www.quora.com/Angry-Birds-game/How-did-Rovio-build-its-Google-Chrome-version-of-Angry-Birds http://www.quora.com/Angry-Birds-game/How-did-Rovio-build-it...

jaredsohn 15y ago

I was hoping that they restored the review ordering back to how it was. (Google is aware of this and working on a fix (there is talk on the Chrome extension developers mailing list); just hoped to see the fix now.) I believe they now sort them by 'usefulness' when up until a month ago or so they sorted them by date. The current order is annoying because 1) the top reviews tend to be older and often talk about old bugs giving new potential users inaccurate impressions, 2) it is harder to see the new reviews (although the developer can log into a different interface and see them sorted by date), and 3) it makes conversations between the developer and users harder to follow. The reason the last point is relevant is that for many users posting a review is the most obvious way to mention bugs. They should let developers respond to individual reviews and provide optional links to a bug tracker and a forum to better move traffic there. UPDATE: Noticed that it now only allows you to write one 'review' so a developer can no longer respond multiple times; hopefully some of the above suggestions will be implemented. A couple of other unrelated changes I noticed: * They include your Google profile info when you write a review; not sure if you can leave a review anonymously (beyond having an anonymous Google profile) anymore. * They no longer show a count of how many people +1ed it (but still let you do so from there.)

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
diamondhead 15y ago
I agree. First couple of comments in my app's page are my replies to the users questions. Which look nonsense since the questions are in random order...

Kylekramer 15y ago

Looks pretty and I like the general trend of Google's new design, but it horribly breaks search (example: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/search/gmail?newlook https://chrome.google.com/webstore/search/gmail?newlook). I'd rather having functioning ugly over broken sleek.

jarek-foksa 15y ago

The contrast between the body text and background is way too low (designers, please read http://contrastrebellion.com/ http://contrastrebellion.com/). Having one scrolled window inside another scrolled window also seems to be a bad idea, but overall this is a great improvement over the old design.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

ryanwhitney 15y ago

Note: You aren't seeing the new design unless you're using Chrome.

dpcan 15y ago

You know when you go to Wal-Mart and there's that giant basket full of $5 movies? There "may" be a gem in there, but you have to stack and pile them all over the place, dig through loads of repeat garbage, and just hope something is in there you want. After 5 minutes you're frustrated because you just wasted your time. The Chrome Web Store is a pile of apps - especially games. Except there's no way to pile, sort, and cart them. If you could at least STAR a game so you could go back and look at the ones you've given a STAR to later, then it would be helpful. G+1 doesn't help because I don't want to +1 something that may suck. You CAN create a bookmark while a pop-up of the app is showing, and when you return to that bookmark, the app popup shows. But you know what would make sense because it's the way SHOPPING HAS BEEN DONE FOREVER? A ton of categories and sorting methods so you can browse small niches of apps you are interested in, like Platform games, or RPG games, or Sports games. Not on the Chrome Web Store. Nope. Just GAMES. That's it. GAMES. Thomas the Train is right next to Counter Strike. Ridiculous.

adrianwaj 15y ago

I don't like it. Not enough whitespace, too colorful. I think it'd be better if the middle column was a scrollable list and the right column was fixed and display information when middle column boxes hovered. Also, if I were looking for browser addons, I'd be looking for a "Chrome Extensions Center." "Chrome Web Store" could mean many things. Web could mean anything so it should be omitted, and store is misleading if things are free.

jaredsohn 15y ago
Google had something like a Chrome Extensions Center before this but then added apps that you can pay for and started calling it a store. Apple's Appstore also calls itself a store, yet many of the downloads are free so calling it that is not misleading, at least in a new way. I imagine it is called a 'web store' since other stores tend to be either mobile (Apple, Android, ...) or desktop (Mac App Store, new Windows 8 Store coming next year) and it promotes the idea of a webbrowser being an operating system (albeit it is redundant).