In 2001, Google launched a revolutionary addition to its search engine: Google Images. At the time, a collection of 250 million images with a single search engine was ground breaking. Google now has an index of over 10 billion images.
Due in part to the growing number of images in Google’s index, the company is planning on changing Google Images. Some of these changes include:
-Dense tiled layout designed to make it easy to look at lots of images at once. This allows for more images and less text.
-Instant scrolling between pages which allows for more images to be seen with only scrolling. Up to 1,000 images will be added per scrolling page, with individual pages being numbered.
-Larger thumbnail previews on the results page, designed for modern browsers and high-res screens.
-A hover pane that appears when you put your mouse over a thumbnail image, giving a larger preview, more info about the image and other image-specific features such as “Similar images.”
These updates will be added to Google soon and it shows that the search engine company is continuing to evolve. Google’s Product Manager Nate Smith said “We hope they not only make it easier to search for images, but also contribute to a better aesthetic experience. We see images as a major source of inspiration, a way of connecting the world—aand their growth is showing no signs of slowing down.”