Google recently rolled out a significant redesign of its iGoogle homepage and already users are complaining that the new version is a giant step backwards. The Google Group dedicated to iGoogle is quickly filling up with posts from angry users calling the new iGoogle "basic user interface stupidity" and petitioning for a return to the old look.
Among the chief complaints are that the new left-hand tab area is a waste of space and the new widgets remove features rather than add them. Also missing from the redesign are many long time requests, like live links in the Gmail widget.
Of course any time a large, popular homepage like iGoogle undergoes changes, there will always be those who hate it simply because it's different. In this case, while some may be vocally unhappy about the changes, they appear to be in the minority. At the moment a petition asking Google to bring back the old tabs across the top of the page has a mere 136 signatures hardly a mass outcry. [Update: As of 2:45PM PDT Friday, the petition has well over 700 signatures, and looks like it will break the 1,000 mark before the redesign is a day old.]
Still, this isn't the first time a redesign has triggered a negative response from Google users. When the company redesigned its Docs and Spreadsheets tool there was an overwhelmingly negative reaction. In that case Google relented and changed a few things, but it remains to be seen if the same will happen with iGoogle.
In the meantime, if iGoogle's new wider page layout has you down, be aware that you can get something like the old layout by heading into the preferences and changing the number of columns you're using.
Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a way to put the tabs back up at the top of the page. If that change bothers you, head over to the petition and let Google know by sounding off in the iGoogle Group.
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