LiveSide - News blog

I like the new search box, kind of, but there's things wrong with it.

Like why would they put video search if it's still in beta? Video search still needs a ton of work if you ask me.

And Windows Live is still doing that nasty magnification view. If you magnify on any Windows Live page, the whole layout becomes messy, the Windows Live orb logo gets pixelized and it's just not pretty. Unfortunately, they haven't done something about that.

I'm not going to even bother explaining the 'spyglass' icon anymore.

But otherwise than that, the new look is great. Now if only the other Windows Live sites could start rolling with new better looks too.

Doesn't work for me with English (United States) set while looking at the "personalized" page. But it does show the new look on just plain search page.

Doesn't work at all if I have it set to English (Canada). Although the English Canada never did offer a personalized page. Live really needs to think about the rest of the world.

the funny thing is, that on the microsoft expression websites they've used segoe. is there any way of convincing them to change it to either verdana or segoe? i know its sounds sad, but arial is crap!

quikboy I suspect we'll see more changes to the video search once they fully roll out the new engine - then having the video tab on the homepage will make more sense.

What I don't understand is when you go into "Options" or actually search for something, it still has the old user interface :S  Why??

Other than that I love the new Live Search homepage (fantastic) and I personally think they should use that UI for the results, options, etc because Live Search is a different product to Windows Live, they don't need to keep consistency between them.

E.g. MSN's UI is different to Windows Live's, therefore, so should Live Search's UI. Does anybody agree??

Also can somebody, maybe Chris, please tell me why the old UI is still showing when you search and go into "Options"??

To add to my last comment:

It's weird, but I've just looked again at the new Live Search and it appears that "Videos" isn't there anymore :S  even when you press the "More" button (see screenshot)

Another point is that they have "Maps" and "Local" (Local in the "More" drop-down) when they both point to the same site and we all know they are both the same, so what is the need to have them both in there? :S

[Screenshot: i129.photobucket.com/.../WLSearchNoVideos.jpg]

I've thought of  an answer to my question about why the old interface is still there for results and stuff, is it because it takes time to change the interface of EVERYTHING in Live Search? And will it come eventually?

Yes the Videos tab has gone - nice spot calum.

The actual search results haven't been updated to the new Wave 2 UI as this is where most of the new features will be. So until they are ready to announce these (sept 26th probably) they won't want to roll it out.

It seems like when I go to "live.com" now, I always get the new search interface whereas before it would always take me to my personalized page.  I now have to click "personalized page" in order to see my live.com.  I'm annoyed.  I hope this changes when the implement the rest of the interface.

Ah well I can't wait till 26th Sept then :P

I'm even more interested now you say this is where most of the new features will be! :P

Chris, do you know why they seem to have Maps AND Local on there, even though they are the same thing?

@pjakubo86: I don't know why you are experiencing that, but for me it takes me to my Personalised Page straight away :S

The video tab is still here, hate to say it, but a US only thing?

I feel stupid.  I have to use FF because my copy of IE is buggered up, and I was wondering why I couldn't seen the new interface... I then realized it was probably IE only.

Does anyone have it working on FF2? (I'm running FF3 Alpha)

Ah yes, you're right Kip. I remember now, the video tab must have gone when I changed my region/language. As I saw it earlier.

Because for me it originally said "English (United States)" and then I changed it to "English (United Kingdom)" and it must have disappeared then.

Very odd! Why would they deprive us English of Video searching?? :S :(

Do the Live team actually know where they're going with the UI for their Live services??? We've had the 'flare', the shiny taskbar style we now see on Hotmail/Spaces, and now a new white/gray/green MSN-esque style on Live Search. :-/

How are people supposed to identify and bond with the Live brand, if there's no visual consistency between the services?

I know what you mean, but if you think about it, Live Search is a completely different brand to MSN and Windows Live isn't it. There are the 3 brands: MSN, Windows Live and Live Search; hence, Live Search should have a different UI.

Am I not right here guys? Chris? Kip?

We gave up trying to understand their branding and UI decisions a looong time ago ;)

Seriously though, the search results will feature the new Windows Live Wave 2 UI. The team probably decided they needed something different and less white for the homepage, hence the grey thing. Other than that I have no idea.

And yes, Live Search doesn't have a "Windows" prefix anymore, though it does still have the orb. We could be here all day with this though.

Hmmm....I'm not sure if I really like it....the UI's a bit too plain for me....not that you really want it standing out to much...but it just doesn't really go with the rest of the live products at the moment.