Google News redesign: whitespace and scrolling galore on desktop
Google News for the desktop has been redesigned by Google to make the desktop version of the service "more accessible and easier to navigate".
Google notes that the new user interface has a "clean and uncluttered look", that the new card format is "easier to browse", and that the new layout focuses on "key elements" such as "publisher names and article labels".
The company's designers have pretty much changed the whole interface of Google News. There is a new menu at the top to switch between headlines, latest news, personalized news, and regional news.
The left sidebar lists fewer links, and is only displayed when the width of the browser window exceeds a given minimum width.
The main pane uses a card design now, as does the right pane which offers weather information, fact checking, and "in the news" topics.
Interests can be managed more easily on Google News now. All you need to do is click on the "your interests" link in the sidebar after selecting "for you" at the top.
Tip: We have published an article on Google News alternatives. Make sure you check it out!
Google News issues
If you open Google News on a full HD or larger screen, you will notice that it makes use of a lot of whitespace (light gray actually). The screenshot above has been captured on a Full HD screen; if you open it on a 4K monitor or widescreen monitor, you get even more whitespace in the process.
Another change that you may notice if you used Google News before is that articles include titles only in the new interface.
Google News displayed the first sentence previously underneath each article. The sentence has been replaced with links to related coverage instead.
The number of news articles has been reduced as well. A quick comparison between the old and new design sees a reduction of articles by more than half. There is top news at the top of the page, and then half the articles that were there before.
Part of it comes from the use of larger thumbnail images, another from using larger font sizes for displaying text in the main pane. Google's own before after shot shows seven news articles in the old design, and only three on the new.
What this means is that you have to scroll more to browse the same number of news articles on Google News.
What you can do about it
A userstyle has not been created yet to improve the site's accessibility on large displays, or make it more efficient in terms of scrolling.
What you may do however is make use of RSS feeds by loading topics of interests, and clicking on the RSS Feeds link at the bottom of the page afterwards.
This loads the RSS feed for that particular topic. You can subscribe to it in some web browsers (Firefox and Opera support this for instance), by using feed readers for the desktop (QuiteRSS is my reader of choice), or online feed services.
Now You: What's your take on the Google News redesign?
Martin, I would appreciate that you do not censor this post, as it’s informative writing.
Onur, there is a misleading statement “[…] GIFs are animated images …”. No, obviously you don’t seem to have take much notice of what you were told back in March regarding; Graphics Interchange Format (GIF).
For example, https://www.ghacks.net/2023/03/31/whats-gif-explanation-and-how-to-use-it/#comment-4562919 (if you had read my replies within that thread, you might have learnt something useful). I even mentioned, “GIF intrinsically supports animated images (GIF89a)”.
You linked to said article, [Related: …] within this article, but have somehow failed to take onboard what support you were given by several more knowledgeable people.
If you used AI to help write this article, it has failed miserably.
AI is stupid, and it will not get any better if we really know how this all works. Prove me wrong.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IYl1sTIOHI
Martin, [#comment-4569908] is only meant to be in: [https://www.ghacks.net/2023/07/09/how-to-send-gifs-on-iphone-two-different-ways/]. Whereas it appears duplicated in several recent random low-quality non relevant articles.
Obviously it [#comment-4569908] was posted: 9 July 2023. Long before this thread even existed… your database is falling over. Those comments are supposed to have unique ID values. It shouldn’t be possible to duplicate the post ID, if the database had referential integrity.
Don’t tell me!
Ghacks wants the state to step in for STATE-MANDATED associations to save jobs!!!
Bring in the dictatorship!!!
And screw Rreedom of Association – too radical for Ghacks maybe
GateKeeper ?
That’s called “appointing” businesses to do the state’s dirty work!!!!!
But the article says itself that those appointed were not happy – implying they had not choice!!!!!!
@The Dark Lady,
@KeZa,
@Database failure,
@Howard Pearce,
@Howard Allan Pearce,
Note: I replaced the quoted URI scheme: https:// with “>>” and posted.
The current ghacks.net is owned by “Softonic International S.A.” (sold by Martin in October 2019), and due to the fate of M&A, ghacks.net has changed in quality.
>> ghacks.net/2023/09/02/microsoft-is-removing-wordpad-from-windows/#comment-4573130
Many Authors of bloggers and advertisers certified by Softonic have joined the site, and the site is full of articles aimed at advertising and clickbait.
>> ghacks.net/2023/08/31/in-windows-11-the-line-between-legitimate-and-adware-becomes-increasingly-blurred/#comment-4573117
As it stands, except for articles by Martin Brinkmann, Mike Turcotte, and Ashwin, they are low quality, unhelpful, and even vicious. It is better not to read those articles.
How to display only articles by a specific author:
Added line to My filters in uBlock Origin: ghacks.net##.hentry,.home-posts,.home-category-post:not(:has-text(/Martin Brinkmann|Mike Turcotte|Ashwin/))
>> ghacks.net/2023/09/01/windows-11-development-overview-of-the-august-2023-changes/#comment-4573033
By the way, if you use an RSS reader, you can track exactly where your comments are (I’m an iPad user, so I use “Feedly Classic”, but for Windows I prefer the desktop app “RSS Guard”).
RSS Guard: Feed reader which supports RSS/ATOM/JSON and many web-based feed services.
>> github.com/martinrotter/rssguard#readme
We all live in digital surveillance glass houses under scrutiny of evil people because of people like Musk. It’s only fair that he takes his turn.
“Operating systems will be required to let the user choose the browser, virtual assistant and search engine of their choice. Microsoft cannot force users to use Bing or Edge. Apple will have to open up its iOS operating system to allow third-party app stores, aka allow sideloading of apps. Google, on the other hand, will need to provide users with the ability to uninstall preloaded apps (bloatware) from Android devices. Online services will need to allow users to unsubscribe from their platform easily. Gatekeepers need to provide interoperability with third-parties that offer similar services.”
Wonderful ! Let’s hope they’ll comply with that law more than they are doing with the GDPR.