Google Tests a Black Navigation Bar for Google Plus
About two days ago, I noticed the Google navigation bar is now black as shown below.
I did some searching to see what was going on, but couldn’t find an answer into why it was black. I posted on Twitter, but no one seemed to have it like I did. I tested out Google Chrome, and Internet Explorer, but they didn’t have the black navigation bar. It only appeared on FireFox 5 (could that be the reason too?)
Reports are now appearing saying that Google is testing out the new black navigational bar to a limited number of users to see what they think about it. (to prepare for the launch of Google Plus). It also appears that they are also testing out a new black YouTube player as well.
Update: It is now clear, that Google is having a complete make-over. The black navigation bar is currently being rolled out to everyone and will appear on all of Google services such as Google Reader and Gmail.
Along with this, Google search has also had another make-over, and becoming even more simplistic. If you do a search, you will notice that the sidebar has changed to a more red and grey colour scheme. This colour scheme and layout will become default, as Gmail now has a theme for this colour scheme, as well as the new Google Plus that is in private beta mode.
New Google Search Theme
New Gmail Theme
The new Black YouTube player
What’s your opinion on the new black Google navigation bar? I actually quite like it – it’s much better than the old one in my opinion. Do you dig it? Let me know your thoughts about it in the comments.
Update: Recently, Google is in the process of launching a new social networking tool to compete with Facebook called Google+, which uses a black navigation as shown in this Flickr image. So I’ve come to the conclusion, that the black navigation bar you see in this post is to do with Google Plus.
Update 2: Google has published an official blog post outlining the changes with the Google homepage. The design is to help in regards to: Focus, Elasticity, and Effortlessness; and is currently being rolled out to all users – so look out for it!
I might as well post a screenshot of the current look of the Google Homepage because you kind of miss what sites look like after the undergo a make-over. Just look at the how the user interface has changed for Facebook over the past few years. It’s so much different now then when Facebook first came out; so it’s good to have a record of Google’s current search page if the new black navigation bar roles out to everyone.
I quite like the black toolbar.
One thing I noticed I also use FireFox 5 but no black bar.
I like it too Glenn. Thanks for your comment, and confirmation about FF5.
I run FireFox 5.0 and noticed the black title bar a few days ago. I arrived at this site because I was curious as to the change, I thought perhaps a plug-in had changed the appearance. It is OK, seems a little harder to read if you have your display contrast/brightness turned down.
All I can say now, is that the UI has changed quite a lot for Google the past week.
I’m still trying to figure out what the significance of the black bar is, I mean its just a color, big deal. What can they be possibly testing with it.
Well we now know the Black Bar is part of the launch for Google+, and it will be consistent across most of Google services, so any notifications you get, you will be able to respond to them whether you’re just searching the web, checking emails, or reading feeds on Google Reader.
have you ever heard something about Viagra Pharmacy ([url]http://www.4rx.com/[/url]) ? I think you should add something about that element, shouldn’t you?
Strange how they seemed to realise that what people liked about them was simplicity and lately they just keep changing it.
Google with the side links and black bar is starting to look like a mix of [url]http://www.yahoo.com[/url] and [url]http://www.blackl.com[/url]
no doubt google plus is gonna be the dominators
Regards
google plus login
The Google Black Bar is a security nightmare. Every time I turn my computer on it automatically signs me in for anyone to see. Even if I sign out of my Google account it still automatically signs me in when you hit the ‘YOU’ button. If your computer gets hacked all your information is exposed. This is what happens when people want everything to be really simple without password protection. Now Google is shoving another Facebook down our throats.
I would suggest that you delete your browser cookies. There might be something their triggering the re-login.