Take this search:
http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy&hl=en&site=&source=hp&q=dog&aq=f&aqi=g4g-o1&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&pbx=1&fp=8374ee23cb92f619
1: Their URLs. Why could this not just be "google.com/dog"? Whatever the problem is I have a hard time believing it cannot and should not be solved.
2: Their text presentation is messed up. Ariel is a fine font, but the thinness of the letters and the narrow spacing makes it really difficult to scan the page.
3: I love their new sidebar, but the icons are chaotic. They should each be a single color, corresponding to the colors in Google's official icon. This would make them easily recognizable. Furthermore, the iconography is not great. When you try to deliver a service which is all about getting your users away from your website as fast as possible, then the confusion created by too similar icons, such as the "blogs" and "updates" icons in the sidebar, is very much unwanted.
4: Stop making the sidebar icons switch places, and stop hiding half of them behind a fold. Yes, they switch places in order of relevance but when the icons are not easily recognizable because of overlapping colors, suboptimal iconography and when a "random" half of them disappear on every search it just creates a mess.
5: The sidebar is great so get rid of the top bar. It wastes space, and the argument that it is there so users have something they are familiar with on every page is just a bad excuse for proper design.
Solution:
This url is perfect. If you think it is too long "dukgo.com" works as well. You can even search for "dog" by typing "duckduckgo/dog". Something that Google does not allow.
Bonus:
6: What on earth is up with that arrow pointing to the top result of every search? Does google think I am too stupid to figure out which result is the top one? What?
