If you happen to know any Google Finance users, have pity on them – they’re probably feeling a bit disconcerted (and not just because the Dow’s down 254.16 points). Google Finance is testing some new site designs, and feedback so far has been less than positive.
A post on the Google Finance Blog announced, “Over the course of the next few weeks, you might notice a few changes to Google Finance. We will be running some experiments on the look and feel of our site, based on an accumulation of user research and feedback. They will only be visible to a small number of random Google Finance users.”
The post has received five consumer responses. Three people don’t like the interfaces they’re seeing, one individual’s happy to have been excluded from the experiment, and one fellow would like to view a screenshot. Plus, a Google Finance engineer apologized for a display issue. This doesn’t appear to make the updated look an overwhelming success.
The timing of the update is also a little odd. We’re quite a ways into the recession, so any direct response seems inappropriate. This may be either a regularly scheduled change or a signal that the fight against Yahoo Finance isn’t going so well.
Regardless, there’s no need for users to panic just yet since the official blog post claimed, “It’s pretty normal for us to run this kind of test, as we’re always working to improve the experience of using Google Finance.”
