Website research…

Ah, I don’t know how anyone can stand blogging…It’s like I am forcing myself to be a more extroverted person. I’ve never kept a journal or diary, it’s just not me. Can’t one just not be a blogger?

On to more relevant and pressing issues…

http://www.google.com

In my opinion Google is an excellent example of good, functional design. Google is currently the most used search engine on the internet, commanding a whopping 80% of the market share[1]. But how? What has Google realised that its competitors Yahoo! and MSN haven’t?

Search engine market share

On the surface, Google appears to be one of the most basic pages on the internet. This is, in my opinion, the root of their success. Google have managed to create a simple, yet very intuitive and aesthetically pleasing search engine. Users are not bombarded by information, but greeted by a subtle banner and a text input field. Not much thought is necessary to figure out how things work! Google almost comes as a relief from the content rich websites that await within your search. It’s almost ironic that the ‘root’ or ‘index’ of the internet appears to be one of the most simple pages in existence!

Google has opened my eyes to the importance of good design in a service orientated website. A website should be as interpretable as possible. After all, the more people that understand and can use your website, the more traffic you are bound to get.

—-

References

[1] Search Engine Market Share, August 2008

http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=4#