back to article Google pushes your buttons in its top strip bar - AGAIN

Google has once again rejigged its user account navigation bar, making it ever more slavish to the company's strange devotion to all things social within its silo. The world's largest ad broker said in a blog post yesterday that it had made yet more changes to the strip of buttons along the top of its pages, which was painted …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    FFS they killed the Shopping link?

    Just about the only thing I still used Google for after changing over to DuckDuckGo.

    I guess I should thank Google for supporting my decision to move away from them even more.

    1. Monkey Bob
      Happy

      Look in DuckDuckGo's goodies page, you can just use !shopping before your search.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Nice one, didn't remember of looking that up.

        Can use !gsuk too to get the UK site!

    2. Mike Flugennock
      Meh

      Sorry, but I can't get worked up about duckduckgo...

      ...I go there every once in a while, and I really try hard to get into using it, but I just can't get my head around the whole "fbang" thing. There's no way I can just search on an exact phrase, nor search in a specific domain; I have to learn "fbang language", kinda like learning Pig Latin. DDG is almost like a throwback to the ancient times of search engines, when you had to learn a weird secret language in order to get something remotely resembling what you'd hoped to find in the search results.

      1. Robert E A Harvey

        Startpage is nice and simple.

      2. Matt_payne666

        DDG?

        I totally agree with you mike, but along with all the cryptic commands I find the esults poor at best!

        I too have really tried to migrate to Duck Duck Go... but it is so poor as a search engine...

        TV Licence query - no results for the TV licencing site...

        infact, moving house, hardly anything i typed produced viable results - google on the other hand, with the same search term produced results which took mt to the correct page... my mind is trained to ignore the sponserd links down the side of google so mountainview gets my seach traffic

        1. Shades

          @Matt

          Eh? First result for "UK TV License" is TV Licensing - Home (tvlicensing.co.uk)

          1. PJI

            spelling problem?

            In UK, licence as a noun is spelt with a "C". So perhaps this programme does not understand English, as opposed to American (though even they are learning to spell in such cases, sometimes).

            1. gerryg
              Childcatcher

              spelling problem? warning, pedantry alert

              In Brit English the present participle of "to license" is licensing. American English tends to make verbs out of nouns so doing something with a licence becomes licencing, whereas a licence is the outcome of licensing. Its called verbing.

              Though we''ve got form here too: http://grammar.about.com/od/grammarfaq/f/verbingfaq.htm

    3. Craigness
      FAIL

      Killed the shopping link?

      No, they didn't. If you don't know how to go to google.com and find this stuff out for yourself then ask.

  2. Lamont Cranston

    No shopping search,

    and a less functional video search?

    Does someone want to remind Google that search is what bought them all their users?

    1. L1feless

      I couldn't agree more!

      So I have no real way of cleanly searching video!?!? That was the one thing which Google had going for itself. They still indexed other sites and cleanly displayed relevant video options across the web. If this new video search is not reversed it could mean I change search engines out of spite....Also does this change not smell like a law suit? The video search is not a video search it is a youtube search thus being misrepresented.

      1. The Original Steve

        For video and images I've used Bing for the last 12 / 18 months or so - it's actually rather good.

        Still use a mix of Google and Bing for normal web searches. I find Google is better at technical searches (e.g. work related / geek stuff), where I find Bing a better general search engine.

        Least we still have a choice!

    2. Craigness
      FAIL

      Shipping and video do what they always did

      If you want to search for products then click the shopping link. If you want to look for videos, click the videos link; or just use the regular search for either like everyone else does. If you want to go to a Google product such as docs, Calendar or Youtube then click the other links. Google got all their customers by making everything so f*cking simple that even most reg commentards can use it.

  3. iCode86

    Quack

    This is why I use DuckDuckGo these days. The use of !bangs to search a plethora of sites (even google and shopping sites), and the fact that DDG couldn't give a crap about what I talk to my mates about.

    Plus the money they make from ads is shared with the Linux Mint community, which is nice.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Happy duckling here

      Recently changed to DuckDuckGo and it's been working great for me.

      It has what I loved about Google in the early days - and what made me change from Altavista, Hotbot, etc - before their greediness drove them to mess it all up into what we see today.

      Nice to know they're giving back something to the Linux community too.

      1. iCode86

        !theregister

        There's even a bang for The Reg. I've just emailed them asking to add !elreg as well.

        1. A. Coatsworth Silver badge
          Pint

          With Scroogle having more and more problems (lately, half the searches I make there end up in the "We are so sorry, Google is treating us as spambots" page), it seems DuckDuckGo is the best option available (thanks to the many commenters who have recommended it in these formus) , and in the few weeks I've been using it, it has worked just fine.

          But I didn't know about the "bangs" and other syntax DDG uses... Reading the Syntax page, a phrase almost brought tears of joy to my eyes: "Every search term should be used by default. That is, we try hard not to autocorrect your query, or in other words, we treat your terms as if you typed AND in between them."

          Here's to the Duck!

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Scroogle

            I've been getting that a lot lately too, As my 2nd search bar option is DDG I've been using it more and more so It looks like I'll be making the move permanent from now on. I found DDG by using Mint (on a disposable VM I use for online banking etc).

            Bye Bye Schmidt, it was shit knowing you.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Also happy with DuckDuckGo...

      Better results from DuckDuckGo than Google in many cases - goodby Google, and good riddance.

  4. Inventor of the Marmite Laser Silver badge

    So long Google

    It was nice, while you had to be good so you could grow.

    Trouble is, you're getting more like those things from which, at first, you distanced yourselves.

  5. jai

    no more shopping?

    that sucks, as I regularly used that feature.

    then again, i knew this day would come, when they changed it's name from "froogle" to "shopping"

    shall be giving duckduckgo a try out this weekend then

    1. ratfox

      Relax, it's still there

      Search what you want, then click "Shopping" on the left...

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      It's still be there, first click More, then it's the 10th item on the drop drown menu.

      You can't miss it... Well you can, but here's an handy map to guide you:

      http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-44JXTLahIyY/TzQ0GSrgMmI/AAAAAAAAI-o/aTVLpJAE58c/s1600/1dXS7y3npF-waDeIVWG6_fO6lQMhsjMk.png

      Easy peasy. /s

  6. Doug Glass
    Go

    Guck Foogle ...

    ... and the horse they rode in on too.

  7. John Robson Silver badge
    Big Brother

    Configurable?

    It would be nice it was configurable - maybe stored in a cookie?

    Than I could have those things I care about there - I use shopping, translate, images and maps. Not so much the others.

    I don't know about you, but I don't think we're all identical.

    Of course the chocolate factory assumes we're all too stupid - so auto-configure it. You know what I don't click on, stop filling my page with it!

  8. dssf

    Generate some wonky-search email and see what happens...

    Poodles, porn, and hand grenades.

    Coffins, septic systems, and ice cream sundaes.

    Paddlewheel boats, teleportation, and dead presidents.

    Toilet paper, fibreglas, and numbing agents..

    Sex toys, gyroscopes, and telekinesis...

    Sphincters, daffodils, and paint thinners

    Google will have to refine its engine and help stop false alerts to homeland security and other organs...

    And, to reduce the number of goog employees laughing so hard they can't even crawl back to their desks even after 15 minutes...

    1. Rob 5

      and other organs...

      Top notch, Sir!

      On a more serious note, Google has become almost unusable, lately. I'll be giving DDG a try.

  9. Paul_Murphy

    Just been trying DDG - they have an SSL version as well (https://duckduckgo.com/ of course) so I think I'll make that my new default (until it dies or something better comes along.)

    ttfn

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Devil

      You'll return to Google.

      Been down that route, seriously, Google's search is so massively far ahead of DuckGo is not even funny.

      It's a nice feeling for a while "Wh00t, free of Google, this is a great search engine!", but then you realise your searches aren't quite as successful or as accurate - in fact, it's like taking a step back 10 years.

      Seriously, it is, but don't take my word for it - try DuckGo for a week.

      ... you'll be back.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    fiddle poke fiddle alienate ANGER

    They need to stop it - really they do.

    If there's one way to alienate your users, it's to keep dicking around with the user interface.

    I've completely lost track of a whole raft of stuff in Gmail - I'm just happy I can still get my junk email in rectangular format - I'm expecting some sort of triangular 3D touchy-feely interface is going to be thrust upon me at any given moment.

    See, I get the whole upgrade new feature stuff - that's great, it's useful - but I'm all for a steady release cycle that involves 6 months rather than 6 minutes, gives me a chance to evaluate and get used to change, or rant like a troll if I don't like it. That I can live with.

    But this rapid release cycle? Bars appearing, changing colour, vanishing again, privacy popups, gmail "did you know new feature X" blah di fucking blah.

    NO GOOGLE, I DIDN'T FUCKING KNOW ABOUT THAT NEW FEATURE, I JUST WANT MY DAMN EMAIL AND TO SEARCH THE WEB AND NOW MY CAPS LOCK KEY IS BROKEN.

    ... it's been a long day.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      could be worse.

      I have several customer networks that I have to work in, so invariably, I have one browser open in my company network, and and one in my clients' network.

      And I end up with both Google advanced search interfaces at the same time...

      Oh, and they've started sanitizing Google Instant. when I start off a search query with 'fuck google instant' it appears that they're parsing this out and performing instant f___ing search with the remaining terms... I'm back to searching from the address bar, as in: google.com/search?q="search terms here, here and here".

    2. Craigness
      FAIL

      REALITY FAIL

      The last change in Gmail (other than improvements to spam detection) was the layout change a little over 2 months ago. 2 months is more than 6 minutes. If you feel unable to cope with the new layout then select the old layout from the Gears menu. THEY CAN'T MAKE IT ANY EASIER FOR YOU AND IT'S FREE!!1!

  11. darkmage0707077
    Go

    Horray for options

    Love DDG! I'm so glad I read El Reg comments!

    Now just need to find a decent replacement for gmail and I'm all set...

  12. LJRich
    Mushroom

    Ouch

    These are the actions of a desperate company that knows how precarious its situation is.

    If they're sensible, Facebook could be about to kill AdWords: http://richstokoe.com/blog/?id=66

  13. Dick Emery
    Thumb Down

    UGLEEE!

    The lower priced version must have been made hideous in order to push the higher priced model. Anyhow these have fierce competition with the WD TV Live which just won a Best Buy in a certain techmology magazine. The Boxee Box coming in as the Ultimate award.

    The best media streamer is either the one you DON'T have to do much to get working (WD TV or Boxee) or the one for the tweakers who want everything (HTPC).

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Meh

    They did fix another annoyance....

    The one thing I disliked with a passion when looking up something using Google.com (instead of the searchbar in my browser) was the option which would turn my typing into a search string the very moment I typed something. Ugh, I hated that since it was a major distraction. That annoyance seems to be gone now.

    Still, too little too late. I began using Bing a little more as of late (whenever I wanted to search something using the website instead of my search bar) and quite frankly I'm not disappointed. It could be between my ears (I cannot rule this out!) but I get the idea that Bing filters out meta-searchers a little more. Maybe you recognize those; you're looking for $topic, you click on a hit in Google which claims "$topic info" only to end up on a search engine which presents you with either a lot of keywords or almost the same kind of links which you were already going through on Google!

  15. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    analytics changes

    I couldn't care less about google's home page, its just a few links they are re-arranging.

    When i find another search i will use it.

    What is currently really annoying about google is their changes to the analytics interface.

    Rather than have a dashboard that gives nice summary information about all the sites that have stats (as was previously the case), they have removed summary information and replaced it with a blog.

    Yes a blog, because when i am looking at statistical information where summary stats on all my sites would be useful, I am obviously thinking, "I could really do with some other persons opinion on some stuff right now!!"

    Next they will add a blog feature to google docs in the middle of their spreadsheet.

    Google suck,.

  16. Anonymous Cowerd
    Happy

    "might see ads" ?

    No, I won't.

  17. Wile E. Veteran
    WTF?

    Why get worked up?

    Sorry, I can't get worked up about this. I have Firefox fully loaded with ad-blockers and rarely see a "targeted ad" or ignore the odd ones that slip through. Browsing history is turned off but even if it wasn't, the sites I visit are few and not of much interest to advertisers. Does any big corporation want to target ads about EMACS, TeX or FreeBSD? I do have a Gmail account but only use that when signing up for some site requires a valid email address or other unimportant, irrelevant stuff. My main email goes through my own domain service which is not in either Google or Farcebook's grubby little paws. If I really get paranoid, I have certificates for all my accounts and can encrypt mail content if I so desire.

    BTW, if you access Gmail through IMAP4, your client can easily handle certificates and encryption. At least Thunderbird does.

    ElReg needs an Alfred E. Neumann icon.

  18. Bradley Hardleigh-Hadderchance

    DDG is good

    but so is ixquick -

    https://www.ixquick.com/uk/aboutixquick/

    great results, private and a good proxy/cache.

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