Danny Sullivan characterizes this as “the most radical transformation” to Google’s search results – ever. Google+ users will see it first, but it will eventually roll out to anyone who logs into either Google.com or their Gmail account. In a nutshell, it will add “personal results” to any Google search you perform. Much as Bing touts its integration with Facebook, in that as you search on that service, if you are logged into Bing and Facebook concurrently, you will see “social results” alongside the other search results, this is obviously Google’s plan to leverage Google+ and the network of Circles, individual “+1′s” and such into the overall search.

Given the huge market share that Google Search holds, especially those among us involved in online marketing, social media management, and especially Search Engine Optimization, this is a huge event, one sure to have immediate and lasting impact on “us” – the online marketing/SEO crowd.

The regular search User in me is excited by this, in that I will see recommendations and personal results of my Google+ connections in my results. Not a whole lot, mind you, as I’m not one of those uber-social personalities with thousands of people in my circles, or following me currently. This would be a bigger deal if Google were able to build on a user’s Facebook connections, where most social media users have more connections than they do on Google+. I know I’m in that boat.

The online marketing/SEO professional in me is somewhat curious, and worried about this development. I’m wondering how it will impact my job, pretty much. Is it possible to game the system, how much will I need to focus on Google+ promotions, how will this impact overall search results and rankings for the online properties I’m trying to promote? There has been much recent chatter about Google favoring results in the Google+ ecosystem over results on the general Internet. For example, in some instances, comments and shares about an article will rank higher than the original article itself in a Google Search. (https://plus.google.com/102459213278031746871/posts/9LB9uoSfD2i)

This ability to promote search rankings via connections and the use of a social network, while in theory is much or at least in the ballpark of regular SEO activities like linking, obtaining backlinks and such, is likely to cause issues within the SEO community. This is compounded by the fact that Google+ – the social network in question – is to a large extent, becoming Google.

Variation on Gmail's Mountains Theme

While some have complained about the changes in some of the functionality of Gmail, I think the feedback on the new look, and the new Themes that are available has largely been positive. At least I’ve not heard any complaints.

It’s actually pretty cool that some of the new Themes, as well as few of the Classics, are provided with multiple variants, based either on day or time of day. The above screen shot, of one of my empty Gmail accounts, shows a variation on the new Mountains HD Theme. You can tell which of the new or updated Themes is provided with variations by looking at its thumbnail on the Themes page.

I’ve not come across any listing of all the variations of the multi-variant Themes, showing either the number of variants, or the images themselves, but here are the changes I’ve noticed so far.

One Big Question... Will there be 8 planets - or 9?

Variation on the Beach Gmail Theme

Variation on the Ocean Gmail Theme

Gmail Redesign - Ocean HD Theme

When Google+ debuted just a few months ago, Google also provided a couple of new temporary Themes in Gmail, design previews that hinted at a future design that would match the new Google+ “look” – that is now common across many Google websites. I liked the new Themes, but wasn’t a fan of the density of the page; even the condensed version of the design did not allow for many emails to be displayed at once. For those dealing with dozens of emails a day, it required quite a bit of scrolling when trying out the temporary Themes. 

Well, they’ve taken care of the elements “spacing” issue, with the launch today of the new Gmail design, on the Gmail blog (see Gmail’s new look). If you are a Gmail user, you should see a small text menu popup, down at lower right in your email listing in the Inbox, offering to try out the new design. I highly recommend you check it out, and make the switch. The new design is definitely a winner in my book, and not only offers an innovative way to control the element/email spacing in the page layout, but also offers some very attractive Themes. The ability to change the basic default look of Gmail has existed for some time, in the form of Themes that let’s the user select a different color scheme, other than the traditional blue and white, to Themes that incorporated graphics to really personalize the Gmail experience.

Themes, Themes, Themes!

Gmail's New Color, HD and Classic Theme Options

The new Gmail redesign offers a raft of Themes in some subtle and bold colors, classic Themes that have been brought forward from the previous, current, design, and the best part of the package, a selection of HD Themes intended for use on today’s high resolution LCD screens. Many of these HD themes incorporate photos from the popular stock photography/illustration website iStockPhoto.com.

Some of these Themes, especially the HD Theme options, are very attractive. What I’m hoping is that Google itself, or perhaps some creative developer, could port this Theme capability over to the Google+ platform. I really like the basic “look” of the new Google and Google+ user interface, but providing this type of capability in Google+ could really go a long way toward offering the customization that some people crave when building out their social media presence. So, Google – what are the chances?

Feel Like Being Comfortable, Cozy, or Compact?

Gmail Settings Menu, Spacing Options

That didn’t sound quite right, at least tacking on “Compact” at the end of that phrase… But those are the new options for displaying your email and other layout options in the new Gmail design. There is a new Gear/Settings icon the Gmail screen, just above your email, to the right. Clicking here reveals quick access to the selections for your Gmail display: Comfortable, Cozy, or Compact. You can also use this menu to revert back to the “old” design, jump directly to the Themes menu, or to the overall Gmail Settings menu.

Check out the screen shot gallery below, for a look at the new Default Gmail design, at various Display Density (or Spacing, as I think of it) settings, the Wasabi green Theme, a couple of the Classic Themes, and all of the new HD Themes.

What do you think of the new Gmail Redesign?

The new version of Comodo Dragon, a Chromium-based browser much like Google Chrome, but with better/more security and privacy options, has an interesting UI. It reminds me a bit of the default Ubuntu Linux look, in that no matter what theme you are using in Windows 7, the title bar is not transparent, and is actually quite dark. The non-focused tabs are nearly unreadable they are so dark!

I had noticed in the last couple of days, in that a couple of the blogs I write for, that in the Post/Page editing screen, the formatting toolbars (the buttons above the text entry area) were for the most part blank. The icons had no icons on them, in short.

Then I started editing a new document, as shown above in the dual screencaps. After inserting an image, I noticed that I couldn’t see the image at all, and actually the toolbar buttons that are present in WordPress’s Visual editor were not visible at all. I could very that the image was in fact inserted by switching to HTML editing mode, and the code was there. I was wondering if this was an issue with Chrome, the WooThemes framework on which the WordPress Theme was built, or the fact that I’m using a beta test build of WordPress itself.

I decided to try viewing and editing in Mozilla Firefox, which happens to be the 6.0 Beta version, and as you can see in the screencap, it looks completely normal. This surprised me, not that Firefox could view and edit it OK, but rather the fact that Chrome could not.

Here’s hoping that this issue is resolved quickly, as I switched over to Chrome in a big way a long time ago, and am in and out of a variety of WordPress-based blogs throughout the day. I’ll post more information as to other browsers, and any tips I get as to what could be the cause, if I receive them.

Gmail Labs introduces a new feature for Gmail for those users who would like to have a Preview Pane, much like the previews offered by desktop email clients such as Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird. The above screen capture displays the Preview Pane in vertical mode, while the following shows the same message in horizontal mode. 

You can switch from the main Inbox view to using either vertical or horizontal – or choose to turn off Preview Pane altogether – very easily.

I tried this out, and have to say that althought it looks more “familiar” in terms of what I expect to see in Thunderbird (my main desktop email client), I have been using Gmail for such a long time that this looked incredibly foreign to me, and really detracted from my Gmail experience. For those users making the transition from Outlook however, or rather the IT staff and trainers who might be aiding in such a transition, this feature could go a long way toward easing the perceived “pain” of switching email systems.

In order to activate the Preview Pane feature, click the gear icon at upper right in your Gmail window, then click Mail Settings, then under Labs find Preview Pane and click Enable. Save changes, then you’re back out to the Gmail interface. Refresh your browser page (hit F5 on your keyboard, a handy shortcut) and you will have the new functionality.

What do you think of the new Preview Pane option?

New in Labs: Preview Pane – Official Gmail Blog.

If you are interested in testing the new Preview Designs, you can easily switch to the Dense variant, or try out the “regular” Preview Design by starting out in regular Gmail, and following these steps:

1. Gmail Settings – Click on the “Gear” icon at upper right of the Gmail screen, and select “Mail Settings”
2.  Select the Themes tab. If you are not familiar with Themes, these have been available in Gmail for some time now. I’m a fan of the Tree theme, which is interesting in that it shows a background to your Gmail page that corresponds to the weather in your area. Helpful if you have an office without windows I suppose.
3. Select either “Preview (Dense)” or “Preview” and you’re off and running. You can easily switch back by repeating these steps and selecting your previous Theme, or try out another.

I rather like the new design. It closely matches the user interface of the Google+ service, in that there is more white space, and it feels cleaner. I happen to think that the original Gmail user interface design was pretty good, so I’m torn between trying something new, and finding it “better” than previous designs, or am I just liking it because it is new? One thing I do not like all that much is that you will see fewer emails in any given window size, regardless of whether you are using the Dense or regular Preview Theme.

Note the regular Gmail user interface, above, shown with the Tree Theme active. Now check out the “regular” Preview design below, and note how much space is taken up vertically between messages, by comparison to the original design above.

It is important to keep in mind that this new Gmail user interface is definitely just a Preview of things to come. I am betting that the final version will include – or third party user interface hacks will provide - options to make at least the email list a bit tighter. The Preview design is very readable, but provides too much white space in my opinion.

As Google+ rolls out, and more Google online properties undergo design changes, I am sure there will be major changes to other websites as well.

What are your thoughts on the new Preview Themes?

Just found this website, GOOD (www.good.is – you gotta love that domain name) and then found this amazing article about something so easy, that would save so many trees it’s a crime that people aren’t aware of this.

What is this something? The website changethemargins.com is calling for the nation’s (and indeed the world’s) printer owners to change the margins on printed documents from the pretty standard 1.25 inches all around to just 0.75 inches.

It may sound like a small change, but if everyone in the nation did it, we’d save a little less than a Rhode Island’s worth of trees every year.

Amazing, right? I think of it in terms of this is such a simple fix, but if it were actually implemented in the US, and possibly the world, it could make such a big difference to the environment.

Help spread the word, eh?

Couple of amazing points about this video and the vehicles:

• The initial airplane + reentry vehicle combination (turns out it’s the VMS Eve and VSS Enterprise). I am surprised that it has enough structural rigidity and strength so that just the VMS Eve along requires landing gear? The VSS Enterprise, slung between the two VMS Eve fuselages, is attached to the cross wing, and that’s it!
• Tracking video – how on earth did they maintain the tight tracking to keep the vehicle in frame like that. Was video shot from the ground, or more likely (now that I think about it) from the chase plane that shadowed the entire flight. Still, the VSS Enterprise video is amazingly solid and well-kept in frame.

Related articles

• Video: SpaceShipTwo’s First Feather Flight (wired.com)
• Watch a spaceship do the twist (cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com)

An easy to use central overview of ALL Facebook pages you manage.

Facebook recently announced this new feature that lets Facebook Page admins see ALL the pages they manage in one convenient location. You get to this page by clicking on the Pages link at left on your Facebook home page. The initial summary page shows all your pages, as well as information and quick links to Page tools for each Page:

• Switch – This let’s you switch to using Facebook as that page.
• Notifications – Shows a pop-up window with all Notifications for that page, clickable of course to let you quickly visit the post/photo/link mentioned.
• Total Likes, Weekly Actives, More Link – The More link takes you to the Page Insights.

Related articles

• Facebook Adds Another Boost To Page Notifications (allfacebook.com)
• Facebook Rolls Out Places Functionality and Checkin Deals to Pages With Street Addresses (insidefacebook.com)