Google's homepage history shows the evolution of their white background with the colorful Google logo. The page has grown and changed through the years, but the familiar homepage emerged in November of 1999, when the company decided it was time "Google grows up, calms down." On June 9, 2010, Google entered a second childhood of color, images, and business.
Why Google Changed the Search Homepage Background
According to the June 9, 2010 announcement, Google has been working with artists to create backgrounds that let users personalize their experience. The available Google options are there, according to Google, "to provide you with an extra bit of inspiration." Google has worked with artists and has some professional, beautiful photographs. Most people don't go to Google for photographic inspiration; they go to Google to search the Internet.
The quest to return to the basic Google search page might not have been the inspiration Google intended, but that has been a high priority for Google users since the change came. Jennifer Valentino-DeVries pointed out in her Wall Street Journal column that, "On Twitter, complaints about the background rolled in quickly." ("Google Adds Art to Background, Prompting Searches to Remove It." June 10, 2010.)
How to Make the Google Homepage White Again
The easiest way to avoid the gaudy Google wallpaper is use the Google mobile browser, but that isn't a long term solution. Google's solution is to replace the colorful background image is with a solid white background. Google has one buried in the image library. It may be necessary to create a Google account so that the homepage can remember personalized settings.
- Click "change background image" on the lower left hand corner of the screen.
- From the "Select an image for your Google background" box, choose "Editor's picks"
- Once in Editor's picks, scroll down to the very bottom of the selection box. Choose "white."
- Click select. The new screen will be white shadowed letters with a white background.
Since the white background is not outlined, it is hard to see in the menu, but it is the last one on the list. Find it, change it, and enjoy the mercifully blandness of a white screen.
Users can only have a white screen by staying logged into an account. The moment someone logs out of an account, Google inflicts more color and images into the formally simplistic space.
Changing the Google Homepage with Extensions
Google's Chrome browser has extensions that might be a long-term solution to creating a white background. Accessibility extensions for those with visual impairments will allow for simplified backgrounds and fonts. Windows users can try Change Colors 1.3, which is a free extension that is easy to add on to Chrome.
Mozilla Firefox users can install the free Browser Backgrounds add-on. It works under the same principle as Google's own background change options, but it is not necessary to be signed into a Google account to use it. To get to a plain white background, users will have to upload a white image to use as a background.
Installing extensions is easy, but users should review comments and make sure that the extension is safe and compatible with one's operating system.
Google is a responsive company, so users can anticipate an option to return to the classic Google homepage. In the meantime, there are ways to undo the background changes and reconstruct the unexceptional, unobtrusive Google search page.
Alex Sharp - Alex Sharp is a teacher who has been keeping Suite101 readers up to date with the latest in audio- and e-book gadgetry since 2008.
