I don’t like Google Docs
I was going to say I hate Google Docs, but that’s a bit strong. Anyone who had documents with Writely prior to the big server shift yesterday will know what I mean. Writely had a sexy, lean, smooth, web 2.0 interface. The ajax was slick, the usability was high.
Then, Google got their hands on it.
All the sexiness of the Writely interface is gone, replaced with cold text links and unappealing, flat colors. Now, it looks like Gmail. I may like how Gmail works, but I hate how it looks. It’s the same look that Google Spreadsheets had, which has now been merged with Writely to create the abhorrent beast that is Google Docs.
I’ll likely get used to it, but after spending so much time in the friendly Writely environment, moving into the harsh, abrasive Google Docs world will be a drastic shift.
Where are all the designers in Google? Why aren’t they making sure this stuff looks good, in addition to working wonderfully? Isn’t design just as important as usability?
Well, it is to me.
My awesome family at Mahoney State Park this past summer. From L to R: me; my oldest son, Caleb; baby Harlyn peeking out from behind mommy's shoulder; my wife, Amanda; my son Alex.
In Belgium we say “When you get a horse for free you don’t look at it’s teeth”. Know what I mean???
Then you must be used to accepting poor quality products for free in Belgium!
Realistically, even free products should be of good quality — both in usability and design — otherwise, why produce those products/services at all? Quality drives even the free (as in beer) open source community. Can you imagine if Firefox or Apache or WordPress were poor-quality products? No one would use them. The higher-quality free products are the ones that rise to the top and get the most recognition.
Google’s goal is to keep everyone in their online universe. Using their email, document manager, search engine, news reader, adsense, etc. The longer they keep you in their universe, the more they can serve you up advertising and make money off of you. Shouldn’t they produce a free, high-quality product that makes you want to stay in their universe?
My biggest complaint with this is that Writely already WAS a free, high-quality service. Then Google went and “Google-ized” it and made it a sub-par service in appearance and design. They should have simply left it alone.
I concur, Google Docs, well, I hate it. Writely was much better. Be sure to check if YouTube.com is redirecting to Video.Google.com – that will be the next step in the decline of Google.