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You never get to click it though, unless you disable "Google Instant predictions". But it's not the default on majority of the devices out there so it is in fac
by DominikD 12y ago
You never get to click it though, unless you disable "Google Instant predictions". But it's not the default on majority of the devices out there so it is in fact technically useless. But sure, it's a placebo and for that reason Google's UI won't change. Comments on LinkedIn clearly show that people conflate habits with good UI. But I don't think it's fair to say that search button's existence is useful. It... just is there, that's all. :)
- onion2k 12y agoAn element is useful if it does something. In the case of the non-functioning Google Search button, what it does is help the user feel that the box they're about to interact with leads somewhere. Effectively it turns the text entry box in to a search feature. It's a cognitive shortcut - rather than Google labelling the text entry box, they've included a button that tells the user "This text box functions the same as it always has" while the real functionality has changed. That, in my opinion, is useful.