Tue 5 Feb 2008
Google is currently experimenting with alternative views. These are different ways of displaying your search results so that it’s easier to find exactly what you’re looking for. The three new views they’re experimenting with are a timeline view, a map view and an additional info view.
The timeline view allows you to click on a time period on a timeline when searching a topic and then results relating to that time period will appear first in the list. You can also manually type the time period you require in the box provided. The dates mentioned on the site will also appear in bold beneath the link to make finding what you want even easier.
Here’s an example of what this looks like
The map view displays a Google map next to your search results with locations mentioned in the results marked on the map. This may be quite useful if you are searching for something in a particular area.
The info view allows you to select what info you would like displayed below each link that appears in the list of search results. You can chose for it to display the dates mentioned on each site, measurements mentioned, locations mentioned, or the images that appear on that site. You can also apply a date filter, measurement range or ask for a particular location.
All these new views are still in the experimental stage so you won’t find them on the regular site yet. But if you would like to try out searching with them click here.