Google News Premieres Major Redesign

On June 30, 2010, Google News announced its first major redesign since its launch in 2002. The default “section” view is now replaced by a “news stream” view of stories. It is easier to create a personalized collection of stories and share them through email, Twitter, Facebook or Google Buzz.

The Old Google News:

The old Google News was designed to present stories in “sections” such as Top Stories, Recommended Stories, and Local News. There were also sections organized by topic, such as US News, World News and Business.

The New Google News:

The new Google News has only two main sections: Top News and News For You, a new personalized section.

As users come to the Google News website, they will be asked to set their personal preferences, such as type and frequency. This mix is the used to create which stories are shown. Visitors are also still able to organize news stories into sections, as in the old way, read top stories and view trending topics.

Google has also added the “star” feature, which allows users to bookmark stories, giving Google a signal that they are interested in a particular topic. There is a Spotlight section as well, where Google’s algorithms choose stories which they feel should be featured for a longer period on the Google News home page.

What do you think of Google News’ new redesign?