Google has redesigned its image search engine.

Covering the search engine scene from outside the US sometimes leads to surprises. Features that are introduced in the US are not found elsewhere. When researching the new Google Image search engine for this post, I suddenly realized that I was not looking at the new one, but the old version.

This is how Google Image search results look in my Firefox browser on our PC:

On the Mac I got the new version, and by opening the Google Images US version in Chrome on the PC I finally managed to see what the search blogs are buzzing about:

The main difference is, as you can see, that the old version gave you thumbnails with image information below the images: the title, size, URL and a link to search results for similar images, like this:

Attractions in Oslo
480 × 348 – 40k – jpg
thebesttraveldestinations…
Find similar images

In the new version, the thumbnails are larger and there is no new information under the images.

However, this is another example of how Google is using new web standards to turn static web pages into a dynamic experience. Hover your cursor over the image and a small window pops up with a larger version of the picture and the same information as above:

You could say it does not make much of a difference, but the larger sizes makes it easier to see what the pictures depict.

If you click on the image, the old version would give you a page consisting of two frames – image information at the top, the original page at the bottom.

The new version makes this a much more aesthetically pleasing experience. In the foreground you get a large version of the image, while the original page is rendered behind it, greyed out. This is another example of what modern browsers can deliver.

A river of results

The old version was based on the paradigm of having several web pages for results. At the bottom of each page there was a next page button that forwarded you to the next set of images. Now all the images are included on the same page. As you scroll downwards Google will add new set of images. This is an idea Google has stolen from the Bing image search engine.

In fact, the new Google Image search is very much like Bing’s solution, although Bing stick to frames when it comes to presenting individual images.

Bing has one very useful feature that Google is lacking: It has a row of buttons that lets you select the sizes of the thumbnails. There is even an option where you can get the file information under each image, as in the old version of Google images.

Both Google and Bing allows for advanced search. Some features are found in the left hand column (Size, Color, Style and People in Bing; Size, Type and Color in Google), and Google has a special advanced search page.