It's been spotted in the wild before, but a before Google is officially unveiling a new and minimalist version of the classic Google.com homepage. There's literally not much to it, as it only sports the Google logo and two search buttons: Google Search and I'm Feeling Lucky. But don't worry, the whole thing you've come to expect from the homepage is still there, but the features are hidden until you move your mouse, at which point they fade in.

Google explain the decision to scrap the additives with this statement on their blog: "For the vast majority of people who come to the Google homepage, they are coming in order to search, and this clean, minimalist approach gives them just what they are looking for first and foremost. For those users who are interested in using a different application like Gmail, Google Image Search or our advertising programs, the additional links on the homepage only reveal themselves when the user moves the mouse".

In fact, Google has attempted to master the fade-in effect, as they tried 10 different variations of it, ultimately landing on one that a majority of testers had positive and neutral reactions to. Interestingly enough though, the fade-in approach they picked also slows down the time it takes for users to take their first action on www.Google.com. While this would appear to be a troubling, Google says, "we want users to notice this change and it does take time to notice something (though in this case, only milliseconds!)".

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