What’s better than a search box with two buttons? A bigger search box with two buttons, says Google.

Today the search giant implemented and announced a subtle but noticeable change to the size of the search text field on the Google home page: it’s bigger. It also features a larger font size as you type in the field, with correspondingly larger text for Google Suggest results below (that are occasionally good for a laugh).

The company says the reason behind the change is to remind us that Google’s focus is on search. That’s a relief, because with that smaller text box in place before, we just weren’t sure. Check out a visual comparison of the before and after below.

The change is interesting in light of Google’s recent patent on its minimalist homepage interface… that the company is now changing. Of course, it’s not the first time Google has tweaked the homepage, and if you’re interested, here’s a slideshow timeline showing off the various changes through the years.

What do you think: does a larger textbox make the search engine more “fun to use”? Or if we hadn’t told you, would you even have noticed?

Tags: Google, Search, UI, web design

Original post:
Google Goes Looooooooonger, Supersizes Its Search Box