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This is a really amazing direction in terms of design. Like most people probably, I've pretty much ignored DDG because it didn't seem to be doing anything more
by ianstormtaylor 12y ago
This is a really amazing direction in terms of design. Like most people probably, I've pretty much ignored DDG because it didn't seem to be doing anything more than Google already did, but this design is really interesting for going in a new direction.
The only thing that stands out to me as less useful than the equivalent Google search at this point is the hiearchy of the results. Google uses a link-like blue color for the titles of each result, which seems like a leftover from a past age of the web, but is actually useful for scan-ability because the text of the headers stands out.
Compare the current DuckDuckGo... https://i.cloudup.com/vrwZgUkOty.png https://i.cloudup.com/vrwZgUkOty.png
...to Google... https://i.cloudup.com/eFCFEE5TYG.png https://i.cloudup.com/eFCFEE5TYG.png
...to an adjusted version of DuckDuckGo... https://i.cloudup.com/jluIYZWtzz.png https://i.cloudup.com/jluIYZWtzz.png
Having an extra color for the headings lets you scan the page much more easily, which lets you get to the result you wanted faster. The downside is that since their brand color is red, it feels "best" to have the highlight color red. But then that has some negative emotional connotations. Tried green as well, but it didn't stand on it's own enough since there's so little green on the page.
Anyways, I've switched to DDG as my default and will try it out for a while again. I also love those favicons that show up next to the domain names.
- justizin 12y ago"Like most people probably, I've pretty much ignored DDG because it didn't seem to be doing anything more than Google already did" Generally the primary feature is that DDG does _less_ than Google, insofar as tracking you around the internet.
- rakoo 12y agoYou should try the "Classic" theme, which at least shows results' titles as blue, but not all links.
- shmerl 12y agoI like ianstormtaylor's suggestion above more (which uses one orange color for titles and gray for links). Mixing both orange and blue in the Classic theme for links and titles looks somewhat irritating. UPDATE: DDG allows setting custom colors, great! Check out https://duckduckgo.com/settings https://duckduckgo.com/settings (Color).
- ianstormtaylor 12y agoAmazing! Thanks for the tip. For others, the two colors I went with are: Normal: #C22D00 Visited: #CF6D5A
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- Holbein 12y agoLove that design suggestion! It looks so much better! Btw, you can make it your default today by playing with the ddg address parameters: https://duckduckgo.com/?k9=%23b02900&q=melanie%20laurent https://duckduckgo.com/?k9=%23b02900&q=melanie%20laurent This solution is preferable to changing colors in the settings screen if you regularly delete your cookies (and with it the custom colors) - just change your browser search engine shortcut. More info: https://duckduckgo.com/params https://duckduckgo.com/params
- moollaza 12y agoActually there is a "Cloud Save" feature that helps you save (and restore) your setting without using cookies. Scroll to the bottom of the settings page and you'll see it. As the page says, "The benefit of [Cloud Save] over using the URL parameters bookmarklet is that when you change settings, they will automatically be saved in the cloud."
- onedognight 12y agoIn particular, you can set this as your default for the Link color in the settings menu[1] found in the upper right. [1] https://duckduckgo.com/settings https://duckduckgo.com/settings
- couchand 12y agoAddress parameters? Nice! DDG, never leave me.
- cfqycwz 12y agoI was trying to figure out what about DDG's results page made it so much harder for me to scan than Google, and this is definitely it. Just a bit more hierarchy makes the page so much easier to process.