A somewhat disappointing fact about Google Blogs is that the site has been written purely in JavaScript so all you’ll see is a blank page if you try opening Google Blogs Search in a browser that doesn’t support JavaScript (like screen readers) or a browser that has JavaScript disabled - something that’s quite common on mobile phones.
No Google Blogs Search for non-JavaScript browsers
Maybe Google decided to go with a JavaScript-only site to prevent screen scraping or is it anything to do with Google Chrome that is known to render JavaScript faster than other browsers.
Another issue, as I mentioned before, is the amount of spam content in Google Blog Search. For instance, the following story is from a blog that is republishing content from TechCrunch.
Spam Content in Google Blogs Search
Surprisingly, that spam blog made its way into a news cluster on Google Blog Search but the original story from TechCrunch can nowhere be found. This I think is an important issue that Matt didn’t touch up in his article comparing Google Blogs with Techmeme.
Personally, I don’t feel that Techmeme has anything to worry about yet.
Find this article at: http://www.labnol.org/internet/blogging/google-blogs-complex-javascript-design/4736/
web: http://www.labnol.org/ email: amit@labnol.org
Reader Comments
I think having the UI written via JavaScript is an interesting idea because it lets the team try out changes in the interface quickly. I’ll pass the feedback on, but I know that Blogsearch deliberately wanted to go a little deeper into the blogosphere to surface some blogs you wouldn’t always find on Techmeme. But part of going deeper is that if you look hard enough, I’m sure it’s possible to find blogs that aren’t as high quality as some of the “A-list” blogs. Thanks for the feedback!
Written by Matt Cutts on 10.02.08
“A somewhat disappointing fact about Google Blogs is that the site has been written purely in JavaScript so all you’ll see is a blank page if you try opening Google Blogs Search in a browser that doesn’t support JavaScript (like screen readers) or a browser that has JavaScript disabled - something that’s quite common on mobile phones” - Solution is not in blaming Google for what they designed. Better to update browser and be up-to date with technology. UNIX is a good OS, but i can’t open my webpage there..what should i do then ?
Written by Kevin on 10.02.08
I went to read “The inspiration behind the LOGO Design ??? Google Chrome” and instead I got a plug in failure of Shock-Wave Flash! Jake
Written by ja loftus on 10.04.08