A few weeks ago Google decided to add some “updates” to it’s iGoogle pages. I get the thought process behind the changes, however the implementation was terrible. They changed the layout of iGoogle without telling everyone, and without giving the option to NOT use the new layout. To be perfectly honest, the new layout is fucking terrible.

The new iGoogle is designed so there is a tab bar on the side with links (the items on your iGoogle page) and when clicked, they will open in a window inside iGoogle itself. I get the idea, make it more productive with a lot more information available on one page, and more importantly, giving their advertisers more incentive to make widgets for the page with all this new real estate to work with. It’s all about the dollar after all, who gives a shit what the user wants.

Anyway, here is a temporary way to get around the changes. Set this as your home page:
http://www.google.com/ig?gl=all
The new iGoogle was forced on North America only, and this is a way to use the old one, with the tabs on top like they should be, not taking up a bunch of screen real estate on the side. (seriously, WTF was that about?)

I’ll be using this as I look for better alternatives to iGoogle. When I find one, I’ll let you know.