Tech —

Google+ updates its user interface, refines navigation and photos

New features include new navigation, photo and social tools.

The Ars Technica Google+ page viewed in the new updated design
The Ars Technica Google+ page viewed in the new updated design

Google announced today a major redesign and a set of new features for users of its Google+ service. Navigation and several user interface features on Google+ pages have gotten a design makeover, and several new features aim to attract more users to share photos and promote more interactions with each other.

Google has overhauled navigation by making things simpler than its previous design. Pages now feature a cleaner, more minimalist look to match some of Google's more recent updates to other applications like Gmail. A new "ribbon" of icons for home, profile, pages, and photos simplifies access to some of its major features. These icons can now be customized to users' individual preferences. The end result is that now pages have a very clean, streamlined look made up of app-like icons.

Google+'s new look and features also emphasize photos now more than ever before. Photos are now displayed prominently, using more space on the browser's screen. The new layouts are larger and more elegant, and they resemble the photo displays on sites like Tumblr or Flickr.

Google has made discussions and comments more visible, in an effort to make participation easier and more self-evident. The new "Explore" button highlights activity and posts by Google+ members as a stream of trending activity. This feature is likely an attempt to encourage more users to explore pages and people beyond the privacy of their own circles.

Hangouts have also received their own dedicated page and a design refresh. You can now view your own hangouts and track personal invites to hangouts more easily. Most notably, you can scan for other public hangouts that are available to join or watch in real time.

The new design began rolling out to some users starting today, and some features will be rolling out over the course of this week. In January of this year, Google announced it had 90 million users. Today's announcement says that more than 170 million have signed up for Google+ service, even if not all of them joined voluntarily. Google+ has positioned itself as an alternative to Facebook, and some of the new features suggest that Google is more aggressively trying to lure users to use the Google+ platform.

Channel Ars Technica