Ask has given its site a new look and feel, and proves that Google is not the only innovative company on the search engine bloc. The design is elegant, functional and easy to read.

Ask has for some time experimented with a more modern look and functionality at its AskX experimental site. Today it made some of these changes permanent at the regular Ask.com site.

Ask has introduced a pleasing “three dimensional” look to its home page, adding colorful icons to mark the most important search services: web search, images, city search, news and blogs.

Like on Google and Yahoo! a pull down menu gives access to the remaining services. Ask, though, has added icons to these choices as well: video, maps and directions and shopping.

The search engine result pages are equally elegant. In spite of the fact that they contain a lot of information — alternative sections of listings and alternatives — the pages look very simple and are easy to grasp and navigate.

Regular search results fill the central column, with some clearly marked sponsored results at the top.

A narrow right hand columns presents relevant images, an introduction to a Wikipedia article, and blog, maps and video search results — even time zone info when relevant. These elements may vary according to the search query.

The left hand column includes — besides the search form — listings of alternative search queries that might narrow or widen your search results. In essence this means that the left hand column is for refining your search in order to get more relevant results.

Again, Ask has added some very simple but well designed graphic elements, gradients to identify the left hand column and top search query, and narrow lines to avoid cluttering at the right hand side of the page.

In the article From AskX to Ask3D Scott Grieder & Erik Collier of Ask says that the new design is partly based on user testing that shows that searchers have developed a new mode of speed reading across the screen:

“Their eyes dance down the results page as quickly as possible, mouse cursor flailing to quickly peek if the site on the other side of the click is truly meaningful. We’ve been calling it ‘Search Skim’ and it implies a lot of wasted effort in every search.”

The strange thing about all this is that, although the changes a pretty small, they make a huge difference. Ask has managed to combine Google’s clean interface with a modern design and great functionality. We believe Ask has a winner and that this new design will be just as important for a possible Ask growth as its new search algorithm.

Google has made great strides towards a more transparent navigation recently. But Ask now has our favorite search engine user interface.