Ok to experiment, but not without a way to opt out. FAIL

I have all scripts OFF by default in FF & NOSCRIPT, the background is WHITE, until I "Temporally allow google.com" which will never going to happen.

Just gotta text from a friend, he thought his PC got a virus cause there is a Background image on G's homepage.

Oh, and it is plain UGLY. I get a picture of some SWAMP Leaves, yellow and somewhat green and it "ztinks in here" at 1680x1050 on a large monitor.

I can't help but wonder how many average users may think that Google's been hacked.

A person I just spoke to on the phone commented that they weren't sure they were really at Google when they saw the background image.

I don't know about you but I rarely visit Google's home page, usually at times like this.

This has to be the worse joke of this decade.

What an eyesore! unbelievable!

How the mighty have fallen....plain stupidity, and then some.

make it stop.

please.

And hey, whoever from google is keeping tabs on the conversations in here this week:

When you go to "editor's picks" and select a white background in a vain attempt to make the horrid mistake go away, you still have crap white text with a drop shadow that's worse than anything.

So I repeat...

Just make it go away. Make the bad man stop.

Google became #1 because of the clean, simple interface and good results. Fire all the marketroids that seem to be taking over your shop and go back to the basics that made you #1 in the first place.

It is horrible.

Unfortunately, they are probably right to do it, from a commerical point of view: "no-on ever lost money underestimating the taste of the public". Google and Bing are engaged in competition to cater to the lowest common denominator, so expect it to get worse.

I search from the browser search box, but how long can it be before this sort of stuff starts appearing the the SERPS? Expect pink ponies on either Google or Bing within a year.

Google has adopted such a move mainly to witness or record user responses

Hopefully they acknowledge these responses and never do this again.

Sadly, I imagine a future where all the first page results have been paid for, Twitter/Facebook comments are scattered throughout, and themes run rampant on every page.

whoever came up with this is a complete idiot

I rather like the sand dune image.

Saw this in testing 2 days ago. I said it before and I will say it again, Bing scared the crap out of Google. Bing is making small gains and that scared the PHD's silly.

Between layout and images Google has now stolen Bings design 100%. Doesnt really suprise me, they stole adwords to. Im starting to see some media pick up on the story now:)

BTW the entire pro Google crowd of linux "gurus" here at our office feel soldout Google:0

Too funny.

Bing does this with grace, Google...well, didn't.

- John

It is true, google looks a lot like bing.

And at least superficially, pages that seem to do well in google seem to be doing ok in baing also though there seems to be no traffic flowing as a result.

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System: The following message was spliced on to this thread from: http://www.webmasterworld.com/goog/4150439.htm [webmasterworld.com] by brett_tabke - 8:09 am on Jun 10, 2010 (cst -5)

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Hi all,

Has anyone else noticed a background image on Google as of today?

I now also have the option of
"Curious about today's homepage? Add your own background image now"

I really loved Google's simple white background approach and think this is a bit of a shame.

I think the changing logos were fun, but do we really need a random daily background?

Apologies if this is old news, it's the first time I've seen this.

It will be interesting to run a comparison of today's google referrals to see if the update affects traffic.

They seem to be using images to increase account signup-- it forces visitors to create a Google login to change the image. No account? You get to look at glossy pink and purple balloon animals.

(added comment rather than add a post)

[edited by: Bentler at 1:24 pm (utc) on Jun 10, 2010]

The strategy behind this is clear however: They want to force people to create a Google account, because this will be the only way to disable this eysore.

Exactly. And then stay signed in.

What a stupid move.

I don't mind the images. It's a welcome distraction

Cool that I virtually never use their home page. I use the search box in my browser instead.

It looks like Goog has entered self-destruction mode.

Ah yes .. what's an ad server like Google to do? .. Hey, I know, how about pretending like they are a search engine? .. it ought to be good for a couple of laughs, and a short term spike in traffic ..

Bingos have taken over the Plex it appears .. or maybe not .. who knows?

I think that not too unlike a tired old middle aged oogly man, Google is going through it's own sort of midlife crisis .. willing to do anything and everything in a failed attempt to be young again.

um .. hey Google .. you're old .. you're tired .. how about giving it a rest .. huh?

Google homepage images? .. Epic Fail

It's not so much the background images themselves. It's the complete lack of any opt out, revert to classic, STAY THE SAME type feature that I can initiate with 3 clicks or less and then get back to work. Google is essentially shoving this down our collective throats without a way out. If you're okay with that - fine.

I'm not.

I did create a white 800x600 image, signed in, uploaded it and while it looked pretty washed out it at least worked. The minute I signed out, the technicolor BS was back though. I am not about to stay signed into google 24/7 simply to avoid these backgrounds. Clearly, this is a power play on googles part.

Again, it's not the act itself. Some, maybe even many, are going to like this. It will be a welcome change over the plain white background. It was that plain white background, among other things, that attracted me to google in the first place. No frills. Just plain search with highly relevant results. Now even the results are being bought right and left and I'm thinking it might just be time to make a move.

I like the change myself The images I see are sharp. It doesn't matter to me that Google copied Bing the change is nice from the white. I think the general user will welcome the change and it does make sense because as pointed out if you want to change it you will need to create a Google account to do so. Think about it just makes good sense to get all these new signups from a business end.

hahahahah I cannot believe they are actually testing this, and how blatant!

Also in classic goog fashion you are AUTO OPTED IN to a new feature if you want it or not.

this HAS to be a joke

Well I was laughing ... damn hard ... everyone in the next room peered through to see if I was having a nervous breakdown ...

It might just be a shot across the bow. Bing's navigation layout is obviously a Google copy so they're making some point. Pretty lousy attempt if it is humour ... obviously.

It's a nice picture and all but I don't like to see the change. I thought G was all about page load times...

internetheaven said it well. Everyone rips off Google.

I got a call this morning where I was working on their computer. "What did you do? Google is messed up." I'm like, huh? Anyway,...

I like the picture. I never go to the G home page, however. But, changing like this is not a wise corporate move. People (as outlined here clearly) do NOT like change. I predict they will change back tomorrow.

Reminds me of New Coke.

I thought I was on Bing for a minute until I looked closer and said to myself that looks like c$a!.

The only reason I see them doing this is because they are worried about Bing.

They should be since it's now a better search engine at least for the things I search on.

Hmmm... I'm on Google.com (from a UK IP) and all I see is a "Change Background Image" link bottom left. Otherwise, the page is white and looks normal - I'm not signed in.

it's complete and utter 5hit IMHO.... and you know what... I went to Bing and the results are almost as good... so toodle doo Goo....

Starting to look like the plex is in hyper self destruction mode. No vision, no proper management, no logic. They are simply shooting themselves in the foot, change after change lately.

Starting with the buzz fiasco, then the open wi-fi data collection (which they are about to face criminal prosecution for - world wide) and now this stupid thing, forcing users to create google accounts just so they can get rid of the ugly picture. Not funny !

They are seriously losing the plot up there...god save us all...a couple more stupid changes down this road and Google no more.


IMO, it is not Bing that is scaring them. It is Facebook. Which may explain the *ANOYING* and rude auto account "sign in", the Buzz fiasco, etc.