We mentioned a few days ago that Google was planning to release a new search interface. There were only a few screenshots available at that time and it was not sure when the general public was able to test and work with the new interface. The search interface has still not been released but the guys over at Gizmodo have found a way to activate it temporarily so that it can be tried and tested.
You might recall that the main change is the addition of a permanent left sidebar in Google search much like Bing is offering for a while. This new search bar resembles the bar that appears in the current search interface after pressing the show options link. It has however been redesigned into a colorful menu with icons, something that many users would probably not expect from Google which is usually attributed with a bare-bone search interface.

Here are the steps to activate the new search interface temporarily.
1. Visit google.com
2. Enter the following JavaScript code into the address bar and press enter.
javascript:void(document.cookie="PREF=ID=20b6e4c2f44943bb:U=4bf292d46faad806:TM=1249677602:LM=1257919388:S=odm0Ys-53ZueXfZG;path=/; domain=.google.com");
3.Go back to Google.com and enjoy the new search interface.
The search form itself has also been resigned with icons that shine in an intense blue color.

What do you think of these new changes? Is it helpful to have that menu on the left side or is Google simply trying to keep users longer on their search engine?
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Hi, it does not seem to work both on my chrome & firefox browser. followed the exact steps as above. the javascript does not seem to be executing.
Nice one. However it does’t seems to work with IE 6.0. Any suggestions?
Don’t use IE6.
Hi. I got the new interface working. here is a snapshot .http://twitpic.com/qzmme
Regards Niraj
Doesn’t work in IE
Hey there,
I tested it on Chrome, it really worked! If you don’t believe me, watch this video I made of when I use the new google:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI2ASSUqPwE
I have something very similar to this, but anywhere else I look, it is just same old google, what happened?