Thursday, April 24, 2008 at 7:22 AM
You might have noticed today that our homepage has a new look. We've been listening to your feedback, and as a result have made it easier to follow the latest news affecting the market as well as those that are relevant to your portfolio. You can still view your portfolio's performance and recent quotes on the homepage. We hope the new look helps you find the financial information you're looking for much more quickly and easily!
The new homepage look is available on all Google Finance properties (U.S., Canada and the U.K.). And there's a new site addition too: Google Finance China. The Chinese stock market has been generating a lot of buzz, and there has been a pronounced increase in individual investing all across China. We are happy to offer Chinese investors access to Chinese stock and mutual fund information as well as to other global markets through our easy-to-use and familiar interface in Chinese. This is an exciting launch for us, and several engineers from our New York and Shanghai offices have worked hard to make this happen. This simultaneous launch of the new homepage with the Chinese site continues our momentum in adding new features and countries in the future. As always, we encourage you to send us your feedback, and stay tuned for more feature updates to come.
108 comments:
The new interface stinks. Too much stuff crammed on one page. Is there any way to personalize the Finance to allow a user to limit some of the superfluous stuff?
I too dont like the new page. The old page was much better.
Plus why make an entire new page when you offer igoogle which allows people to customize their own finance pages.
put it back the way it was....the new one is too hard to find what was easy to find before
I agree. The best feature of your old site was the graphical interface. I get most of the news from other sources. Now the page looks really disjointed and your best feature, the graphs, have been sacrificed.
Please return to the old version or allow users to customize the page.
loved the old page and i used it throughout the day for its large and centered format. now it's too cluttered top center where the eye naturally falls. more news is great but how about news at page bottom and top for market chart/portfolio/bonds/currencies, in other words, as it was!! or let users individualize page. otherwise won't use it much in its current form since i want to just click and instantly have my eyes fall on macro market views rather than having to visually scan into nooks and crannies for macro view. that said, attempts to improve and change itself appreciated.
How do we get the old one back? All the stuff I use the most is now pushed to the bottom or in some inconvenient corner. This isn't a change in the page just a shifting of all content. I thought Google was better than this.
I've got to agree with the (so far) unanimous commenters who strongly dislike the new look. I can't find anything I want, and in particular don't understand why the portfolio information has been crammed off in a (hard to find/see easily) corner.
I didn't even know this blog existed but searched it out simply to register my disappointment with the changes to the homepage!
Lee
I appreciate the attempt to make the homepage better, but I too, as well as my colleagues, much prefer the old layout.
Please listen to your customers and quickly put it back as it was before, it would be the proof that you listen to yours customers.
To help you, here is the order at wich i look the data of the pages : I first watch my portfolio, then the news related, then the DJ graph and smt Sector summary and maybe eventually the market news.I never watch Trends.
If you want to adapt without removing, just put portfolio and the DJ graph on the left. Also put the top stories by default on the "portfolio related"
Please allow us to change it to the "classic" interface. I can already get financial news by personalizing Google news. I liked google finance because it has my portfolios and general market performance right there on the front page in nice big, bold charts and numbers. Now everything is squished, hard to read, and there's a bug at the bottom of the page resulting in text overlap. Sorry to those who worked hard to make the new interface, but it truly is awful.
I would have to agree, this new site is too cluttered, I can't easily get access to the information I need quickly. Every time the page refreshes it defaults to the top stories, not my portfolio news. Please bring back the old site, or at least provide a classic view.
Yeah, where's my portfolio?! And for that matter, where's the missing information for Canadian stocks (i.e.: dividends). Before you spend time fixing something that ain't broke how 'bout fixing stuff that is brtoken?!
Old site was way better. This new site makes the information look smaller and its hard to follow. Change it back.....
I hunted down the finance blog to let you know the new look is much less clean. I'm usually a fan of your layout upgrades, this one blew it. Add a few more tabs that let me go deeper, quicker--fine. Page is too crowded and more difficult to scan than the three-column vertical layout--which is consistent with iGoogle too I think. New design is dare-i-say Yahooish? Seems like your feedback is all along these lines...
Horrible, horrible new look. How ungoogly! If I wanted to get financial information that looks like someone puked all over a page, I'd go to Yahoo or Marketwatch!
Have you no shame? The clean and crisp look of your old site was your best feature! Put the classic look back or at least give me an option to still have the classic look.
After reading all the other comments, I can't believe this design change got past Marissa Mayer. It must be the renegades in the NYC office that created the new page. Get in a meeting with Marissa right away and get to explain just how bad you've screw up the design!
+1 to the unanimous discontent.
Also, a ***BUG***:
I can't even scroll down the page in Firefox! Stuck at the top, no scroll bar. Terrible!
I agree with the unanimous comments so far about the new page.
A helpful suggestion: Please let users go back to the old interface or customize a la iGoogle.
Well, gee. I'm a BIG fan of Google finance. But for me personally, this sucks. If there was a way to customize, I'd could! Too much stuff. I miss the older no nonsense page. Much more useful for me.
Again, the old design was much better. What is the point of having market snapshot with one top news item?
I guess you would like to add some sort of customization feature in the near future - but meanwhile can we have the old design back?
the new UI is terrible. bring back the old. i might have to go back to yahoo.
I want the old page back or atleast an option to get it back. The main reason why I started using google finance and google search is because it was uncluttered and simple. The new site is cluttered and complicated (like yahoo finance or msn finance).
The new interface is cluttered and has a lot of irrelevant information.
Please revert, or I will be forced to find an alternative.
-NR
I agree with many of the above complaints. I loved the old interface and I cannot stand the new one. It's infuriating; just too much stuff trying to fit on one page. Why not put in an option like there is in Gmail which allows the user to choose whether they want the new design or the old?
I think the new interface would be more useful if you swapped the "Top Stories" section with "Sector Summary" and "Trends" graphs. This way, the graphs (which I happen to enjoy the most) are centred on the page in one glance.
News stories relevant to traders should be opened in a separate window/tab.
One thing to note: I noticed that the updated "Market Summary" section still does not readily list European and Asian market indexes. This is the primary reason why I always go to finance.yahoo.com to check up on the markets.
I understand that you may not be able to provide the same level of excellent detail under Sector Summary and Trends sections, but not having these indices listed restricts your readership and usage of this otherwise excellent resource.
Thanks!
I too liked the old interface.
Who in the world looked at this new layout and said "Wow, this looks way better than before!" ???????? What were you guys thinking. What a garbage look. I don't think there is one comment here of someone who likes the new layout. Please give us the option to use the old layout. If it aint broke, don't fix it. It was PERFECT before.
Set it back. The new page is too cluttered.
Did Google hire some Microsoft programmers to redo the Finance page?
The more I use this thing the more frustrated I get.
I think Kirill said it best, this is so un-Googlely.
Please bring back the old format.
Not sure where my previous post went. I agree that the previous design was much nicer. As I'm an Aussie who watches the local stock market, much of the news on the 'new' finance page is USA centric (which I understand given Google's a USA company). The previous page had more local news for me...
New Page looks great, lots of info, kepp up the good work
Will Google release a Google Finance for Hong Kong?
I would much rather have personal information, such as my portfolio's on the right side. The layout is cluttered with information that may be irrelevant to a small time investor.
I'd really appreciate an option to choose the old look. I don't see a single reason why you added little photos to the news. They just don't have any informational value. The old site was cool - simple, all important information at a glance...
I really do not like the new layout also.
I liked where the portfolio section was before. Then if I wanted to check the new I just needed to scroll down.
I go to Google Finance to check stock prices. Not get news. The new look is a step back from the previous layout.
Another vote for either going back to the old version or offering us a way to view both. This new version just doesn't work visually.
In addition to returning to the old format, could you add the price (and a link to a graph) for "oil" to the indexes, bond, and currencies section?
Much thanks.
Old site was better.
When do you will launch Finance for all european stock markets?
I have been using Google Finance for approx a couple of years. The old Google Finance was GREAT.
The new Google Finance homepage usefulness has taken us us back to the 20th century.
Most of the homepage content is irrelevant to Canada.
Can we personalize and reorganize the homepage.
Thanks
Les .
Why has nobody responded to the overwhelming disappointment with the new page? It should have been switched back immediately! Please please PLEASE at least RESPOND! Tell us that you're fixing this mess!
i really really dislike the new arrangement. i want the trends back on the left and the sector summarry on the right. PLEASE give the option to have the old look more intact. Please.
I do not like this page one bit. I thought I had found my home for all my finance needs at google finance pages. Well not any more. I loved the previous style. Is there anyway to personalize this and get rid of unnecessary information? Essentially I want to keep the previous style as is.
I'll cast another vote for the old version of google finance. iGoogle page is great, with drag-and-drop function for each content box, with setting within each box. why not do the same for google finance instead of just forcing all the available finance content/functions onto one page?
New site is awful and makes me feel ill. SERIOUSLY. It was the one refreshing and direct finance information site. So horrible it made me look around until i found somewhere to give feedback. It's depressing!!!! Let me know when you've changed it. Don't want to come back till then.
I don't care about the new homepage that much because I hardly ever used it.
But it does worry me that Google Finance Team is not listening or consulting with its users. That's a serious problem.
It would be nice to see the Team point to a specific comment from a user and say, "there, we did it for you."
What's the point of this blog if nothing we say makes a difference. The reason we're commenting is because we care. But if you don't respond in kind, we will quickly go elsewhere. AOL Money & Finance looks pretty good. (I still prefer Google Finance, just a little.)
Also, it still makes no sense to me that I can't toggle between all of the country homepages via tabs or a drop-down or something. I honestly can't remember how to get to the Canada homepage or any of the others.
It's great that Google Finance is building a global finance site, but it would help if they were all linked, like the Google News country pages.
I have to agree with the majority on this one: The new sight was shocking when I first saw it and I can't imagine getting used to it. The most important information has been moved all over the place. I know you can't please everyone so this should absolutely be customizable a la igoogle.
Keep up the hard work.
When HKG exchange code will be supported? I have been waiting for this feature since google finance is launched.
have to agree with the comments above - at least offer a way to switch back to "classic" view, or better still - offer a way to customise the layout a la igoogle.
its also a pity that you don't offer a commodities panel to track the price of oil, gold, silver etc.
change it back :)
i want my portfolio and recent quotes on the left, damnit!!! put it back to the old interface!!! you guys really dropped the ball on making this new interface consumer friendly. the old one was a triumph and you've sadly regressed now worse than the other finance sites.
Perhaps the lack of response by the "project managers" to such overwhelming criticisms owes to the fact that they were sacked for creating such a fiasco.
In any event, I remain throughly dismayed at the mediocrity on display in the Google Finance page. Google used to stand for succinct but good. What a thorough mess they created here. Is this a sign of the times? Has Google "jumped the shark" so to speak?
To the Google Finance team:
I think that your previously-loyal users who have taken the time to communicate with you on this blog post deserve at least a response to let us know whether or not you're interested in our feedback. We realize that not all change or undoing of change occurs immediately, but so far the situation is leaving most of us (I imagine) feeling unappreciated and like we're talking to a brick wall.
Lee
I have to agree with everyone else here (It seems to be just about unanimous). I would like to have the option to switch back to the "classic" view.
I appreciate the work involved in designing the new site, but I much prefer the layout of the old site. It was just about "perfect".
Thanks.
Folks, please don't stop posting your complaints. Certainly someone at Google Finance will make a case out of the fact that the majority of the complaints came in on the first day and then dropped off exponentially.
It is important that you make your voice heard. Just because you see other people making your case, doesn't mean you shouldn't speak out as well.
I agree with the comments above re: new v. old design. I'd also value a commodities panel, with the option to track the price of oil in particular.
It is pretty clear, Google is drifting into becoming the Microsoft of the web-page world. Rather than innovation, we get mediocrity, rather than good service we get a "like we care" stonewalling.
I am about through here. I am looking for a new site for my finances.
Can anyone suggests any other sites that offer the big graphics and portfolios that used to characterize this site (I used to be able to sit across the room and monitor the indexes--I miss that).
I would appreciate your suggestions.
We have redesigned the home page to appeal to a broader base of users that want to make Google their one stop shop for Finance News, Quotes, portfolio management, and discussions. Market and Portfolio news is essential to making informed decisions and hence the prominence of news on the homepage. Addressing some of the questions that have been raised:
-Portfolio Related news tab: We will be making this tab sticky soon, which will make it easier to access your portfolio news
-Page customization: Customization of the page is something we are thinking about and we will continue to explore different ways of providing this functionality
-Homepage look option: We currently do not have plans of providing a "switch to old look" option
We are committed to bringing users all the power and flexibility you've come to expect from Google search products. Google Finance will continue to evolve and see rapid innovation to meet the needs of all our users. Keep the new feature ideas coming! We always like to hear from our users and your input helps us build great products at Google.
To the Google finance team:
Thanks for the response, though I must say I am quite surprised and a bit dismayed to hear that the team's attitude is to neglect your current (perhaps now former) users in search of a broader base of users.
I, for one, will be switching permanently to another site. I echo the above posters solicitation of any recommended financial portals with a clean look and portfolio-centered design - a clone of the former Google Finance would do well.
Lee
I'm very disappointed by the change. There are a 100 sites on the internet that feature financial news--many quite excellent. What was so great about Google Financial is that it featured your porfolios specifically and the news about them. I've used it to research and track sector-specific portfolios of potential investment ideas. The page has gone from being a distinct, superior product to a second-rate financial news site (inferior to WSJ, Bloomberg, Morningstar, etc.) In addition, the page has become highly unstable for me since the change--something that didn't often happen before.
Please go back: Put our portfolios back on the top left.
Please undertand that I'm a huge fan and user of Google (I use gmail, calender, docs, and finance), so I hate to be a "complainer." But this change has essentially destroyed the value and uniqueness of your product.
To the Google Finance Team:
If you are, as you say,"committed to bringing users all the power and flexibility you've come to expect from Google search products" then listen to us.
This website SUCKS now! What part of "IT SUCKS" do you not understand? Its a convoluted mess! Does innovation and improvement amount to cramming as much redundant information as you possibly can in a limited amount of space?
I used to recommend this site to everyone. Now its an embarrassment. I expected better from Google. Are you drawing lessons from Microsoft?
Google Finance Team:
I've gone back to using iGoogle where I've added a Google Finance and some Australian business news gadgets...as your new page is totally USA focused. Even if I click on "Portfolio Related" news, when the page refreshes it returns to "Top Stories" which you guessed it... is USA business news - sigh.
Daz
At the risk of alienating the Google Finance Team, I must say I find APPALLING your apparent lack of customer service and your disregard for the publics' opinion.
Your attempts to chalk up poor product changes to increase "appeal to a broad base of users"(which is the same thing as saying you want to appeal to the lowest common denominator) is disheartening at best.
When your superiors ask you how users have found the new layout, I want you to make sure you include this message: WE FIND IT VERY UNGOOGLY!
Translation of Google Finance Team's response:
"We're too embarrassed about the 100% negative feedback and scared about our jobs to seriously consider the needs of our actual users. We'd rather spin this madly into bullshit land with excuses about an imaginary "broader base"."
Well congratulations on taking a page from the politician's handbook.
This comment is not related to the new home page look and feel but rather a feature request for Google Finance. It would be really helpful if we have the current level of popular indexes shown on all the portfolio pages. For example if I go visit my portfolio at the top next to search text box it would be help ful to display current level of DOW and S&P.
I find the new page cluttered, and difficult to find what I am looking for. The old page was so simple, had my portfolio news at top, and market news on the bottom. No need to switch between tabs. This site is just silly, and doesn't provide, even novice investors, a fair amount of information. Back to CNBC.com I go. Very disappointing. Please bring back the old classic view.
Please return the finance page to the previous layout. The new one is too crowded and busy: with more stuff everywhere, there is actually less of the information that I want.
The previous version was so clean yet contained everything I needed.
Why fix what wasn't broken?
Please revert to the old page.
You now have overlapping text in some areas, and line wraps of 1-2 words in other columns. Lots of wasted white space makes me scroll all over to find stuff.
Perhaps Google should have a Human Factors review process before you drop this code on users, even if it is beta.
When are you clowns going to fix this Ungoogely mess you created?
The comment by the Google Finance Team on April 29 is frankly a bit of a letdown. Some of us have, rightly or wrongly, come to expect more of Google. A response shrouded in less marketing speak would've been nice. But let me try to offer something constructive.
I am one of many in my circle of friends and coworkers who seriously dislike the new look. The previous default was nice and clean, which was part of the attraction. I appreciate the efforts to improve things, but hey, sometimes things don't work out.
The bigger problem is that you obviously can't please everyone. The calls for customization are definitely a step in the right direction. Something like iGoogle could easily work for end-users, with preferences for the widgets (I may want certain exchange rates, bond yields, LIBOR, a mix of Indexes, etc.).
Clean up the general look, make it customizable, and you'll win not only old users back, but a lot of new ones who are still going to Yahoo to look things up. Enabling users to get an easy overview of the things they need is in itself a killer feature compared to competing sites. Sure, it's a competence they can attack by offering a similar interface, but how many of them are really going to?
I love the portfolio...but whatever you recently did, messed things up for me.
The ticker CWGIX no longer is recognized. It's one of the biggest mutual funds in the world. All the information in my portfolios for this fund was lost.
HELP!! before I go elsewhere.
all american funds data in my portfolio has been lost as well; their ticker symbols are not recognized either
http://finance.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ%3ACWGIX
NASDAQ:CWGIX
has some stuff disappeared? cant find this fund.
Thanks...
Canan Eoy
Marketing
I'm adding my post as another disappointment to the new Finance page. Poorly done. Content is sparse, and there's no personalization of the layout. You moved the charts and other stuff. Sooooo, I'm back to Yahoo Finance through MyYahoo.
There is a soln. You just made the same mistake Coke did, when, after all the research they did, they turned off the old Coke and turned on the new Coke. They tried to say to their customers, take it or leave it. Well, customers left.
They did a cute marketing trick you at Google might try. They reintroduced the old Coke, which most customers liked, relabelling it as "Classic Coke." How about "Classic Google Finance"? I'm sure your cartoonist can go wild w/that idea--and keep all of us who like the old interface (was there any blogger who didn't?) happy.
The new interface is terrible in comparison to the old. The old was my favorite finance resource... this new one changes that
I've already posted my dismay above; this time I wanted to suggest a positive resolution to our situation.
How about allowing each user to choose which Finance format they prefer? You must still have the code for the original layout of your
Finance page, so it should be a simple thing to make it available again. Perhaps with tabs at the top of the page -- as you do with the Google Homepage -- or with radio buttons, or .... there are any number of ways to accomplish this.
This would be a win-win situation and should make everyone happy.
PLEASE consider this idea with an open mind.
Thank you.
Commodities are arguably driving today's market, and you guys don't track them on the hompage? Sort it out please.
Since recently there seems to be a problem with Google Finance auto-refresh function. It either starts and then randomly stops or doesn't start at all.
This is happening with FF 3 Beta 5, FF 3 RC 2, IE 6 on Win32 XP SP2 and Win32 XP SP3.
Extremely annoying!!!
Hope we see Google Finance for Indian Stock Exchanges.
Why did you take the user blog off the front page? I enjoyed seeing the user comments on the google finance front page. I also wonder why you are not including the Toronto Stock Exchange (Canada) in your free real time quotes. Please try to consider your neighbours to the North.
Thanks
Wow, you guys really rock. Thank you so much for responding to my request to put the discussion back on the front page! Are you for new employees perhaps a mentorship?
Thanks Again.
Ok, next request give Canada (Toronto Stock Exchange) free live quotes. We have the hard resources you need. You have the computer resources we need. Lets work a deal. Please show us we count too.
Thanks again :)
since the late change in finance page, the portfolios were moved
i suggest to personalize the location of each section on the page
i, personaly need only the table
Google maby also want to create short version for putting the page on desktop!
The new interface needs to change. The ads are intrusive and the formatting has made text awkward to read.
Please just to back to the way things were. This is now as bad as Yahoo.
google finance webpage is the best
web page in the world regarding
the stocks etfs financials of the co and every thing regarding a co
i never see a web page user friendly than google finance
thanks google keep up the good job
nishi
Today all the graphs disappeared on the Google finance page. Too bad because the graphs were a really neat feature. Major step backwards for Google. I hate to have to use Yahoo for similar info now.
Hi Jerryl,
Thanks for your report. Try clearing your cache to see if that brings the charts back. You can usually do that by holding Shift and clicking the Reload button, but here are some browser-specific instructions.
If that doesn't work, will you post back and let me know what browser and Flash version you're using? (Note: System requirements for charts are listed in our Help Center.)
Thanks,
Ben
I am using firefox on windows xp. I have nothing changed.... But when I use mac in school, it is new version. Why?
I don't want to see the new sidebar (Markets, News, Portfolios...).
Please tell me how to get rid of this information and return to the old layout.
Hi, my home PC is showing the NEW financial homepage, but my office MAC & PC still showing the OLD homepage.
How can I change that?
I hate the new interface. The old one was really better. I really dont understand why u change it. I cant have my graph anymore. I will have to switch to Yahoo finance
First the web page has been clunky all week, and now it is downright dysfunctional. The market graph (and access to historical records) are missing, the "market" tab simply does not function, and even your ad revenue in the upper right corner seems to not work. I'm even using Google Chrome at the moment!!! I liked the rest - it would have been nice to be able to customize it more, but I used it every day. Either fix it or I'll permanently go somewhere else - it is as simple as that.
Seriously, how can you go from a "BETA" to a release and make major changes to something? Everyone knows that you lock the design and make only minor improvements to go from a final beta to a released version, if you make any changes at all, besides removing the word 'BETA'!
Really sucks that Google Chrome browser won't display Google Finance charts...love the page and the browser, but I have to go IE to get charts!
C'mon Google, figure this one out.
CHANGE IT BACK! THIS NEW GOOGLE/FINANCE LAYOUT IS HORRIBLE!
Please change it back ASAP!
The new google finance page sucks...please put back the old format. Now it is much easier using Yahoo Finance then using new Google finance version. I will move onto Yahoo unless you change the format. Thanks for all your efforts though
PLEASE PLEASE put back the old finance interface. This new interface stink like a yesterday dead fish. Thank you GOOGLE.
Please, please KEEP the new interface. It's so much clearer and so much more with fewer clicks. People just fear change. If they give it a couple days standard use (I use it 8 hours a day and I was convinced by the end of my first day) they'd see it's advantages.
Please give us the option to go back to the old (classic) view. Thanks
what wrong with your eyes?
can you see it is pathetic looking version? newer doesn't mean better. For God's sake please at least give the users an option to use the older version.... you dont need to cramp everything in 1 page. i am pissed...i am going to move to BING BING BING !!!
i bet the designer wants to sabotage the google we use to like...
I would like a button to allow the old version please. This version won't even fit on my computer screen! There is no more information, it's just rearranged in a terrible way...please let the old version be an option.
I won't be using Finance anymore if it isn't.
i will short google stock today
i am pissed. !!!!
I really freaked out when I opened google finance and found this terrible new page. It ruined the rest of my day. I don't know who the brainchild was behind this, but please at the very least, give us an option to go back to classic view. I'm sure the problem is that you are all way too smart for your own good. Maybe google should hire some regular folks!!!
The new Google finance portfolio interface does NOT work with my BB Browser or Opera Mini. This is a MAJOR problem for me and I might switch to another service if it does not get corrected.
I NEED access to my portfolio when I'm on the go.
I have to say i was appalled to find a change in Google Finance because the original layout was so flawless for all of my uses, AND EVEN MORE importantly, i use google for EVERYTHING on my LG Dare because it is the only site that supports basically everything i need - GOOGLE FINANCE NO LONGER WORKS ON MY LG DARE SO I CANT SEE HOW MY STOCKS ARE DOING!!!! :OOO :( please change it back!!
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