Several days ago I wrote about the new interface form the Gigablast search engine. It seems like Gigablast isn’t the only one retouching the design. Today when I was searching on most of the search engines, my eyes were disturbed by Microsoft’s search engine - Live.com.

Live.com had a good interface in the past. Actually it was my second favorite after Ask.com, although the search results were better. Back to the interface, I was quite surprised with the simplicity and clear design lines. Also the options from the past interface vanished and now the user has only the search. Nice move. This is actually kinda old school, giving the user the ability to … SEARCH.

Kudos for the move, a bold move and hopefully successful as well. Live is ALIVE.

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There has been a time where you needed an icon in your work. I don’t know … maybe just as a placeholder or maybe the final graphic element. Well most people believe that besides Google Image Search and some major search engines, there are no other resources for this kind of artwork.

Well the concept of icons search was niche a while ago, but now there are several products on the market to satisfy every need. This fact combined with the repeated release of new icons packs under different licenses were good reasons for developing search engines exclusively for icons.
In this case the search engine covered here is Iconfinder.net. First of all, compared to other search engines of any type, the user interface from Iconfinder is unique and with a very nice design.

With simple yet effective features like background color (black or white), tag system, license info or icon size selection this is a great tool in the development and design process. A big advantage is also the availability of Crystal Project icons pack which is from my point of view the best and most comprehensive icon pack online. Another important factor is the scalability and good response time of the search engine.
Also there is a widget available for Mac users for improved accessibility.

In the end I think that this is a good product and also a very useful one. Kudos for the developer and keep up the good work.

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I don’t know when was the change made, but it is positive. The redesign of the old Gigablast search engine comes with a fresh approach and with new color scheme. Although the redesigned is not pushed to the best limits it has some nice features.

For example the new structure with a left side bar from my opinion is awesome. I like the idea and also the nice features and options placed there. For a standard search engine, Gigablast covers the text data, image data and also video data. An additional feature is selecting your time range in order to have better results. Also you have an advanced search feature which helps you to narrow your results.

Regarding the redesign I like the fact that the old rocket was left behind. I do not quite understand the new graphic element from the logo but it will do. The font used in the logo (I think it is Microgramma) is a good one but not used properly. Overall the new face of this decent search engine is a good thing and I wish them the best luck.

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