Revealing the Hidden Value of Your Web sites

I was doing some surfing this weekend and visiting a web site I use daily, Google.com. After doing some searching I accidentally clicked on show options link. I know that I have seen the options tab around for a while, but never felt the need to see what was buried there. It was no surprise that Google has some great features available.
Many of us go our entire lives using technology products and services with all of the default settings in place, never really knowing what we are missing. Below are just some samples of the things we miss on just one web site. I encourage you to take a minute and look in the options, account settings, and personalize tabs on your favorite web sites to see what additional value you can get.

Google Timeline
Did you ever wonder how popular a word is? I know I have thought about it. Google offers a neat feature called Timeline. Just visit Google and search for a word. After getting your results click Show Options and you will notice a left navigation bar appear out of nowhere. Click Timeline. Below is an example of a timeline search from Google. As you can see the timeline shows you the popularity over time and offers a streamlined way to navigate through years of content. You can also click on a year to focus on the year and drill down to the specific quarters and months within the year.



Examples of Google Timeline:
http://www.google.com/search?q=healthcare+legislation&hl=en&tbo=1&tbs=tl:1&ei=KC2JS9nGDIOWtgfAwZ3qBA&sa=X&oi=tool&resnum=3&ct=tlink&ved=0CDAQpwU

http://www.google.com/search?q=healthcare+legislation&hl=en&sa=X&tbo=1&tbs=tl:1,tll:2008,tlh:2009&ei=Qi2JS62WJpGVtgfl64WaDw&oi=timeline_histogram_main&ct=timeline-histogram&cd=10&ved=0CIABEMkBKAo

http://www.google.com/search?q=healthcare+legislation&hl=en&sa=X&tbo=1&tbs=tl:1,tll:2009/07,tlh:2009/09&ei=7TCJS6rXC5CYtgfl__CwDw&oi=timeline_histogram_main&ct=timeline-histogram&cd=7&ved=0CI0BEMkBKAc

Google Wonder Wheel
There is also a very interesting feature that finds all of the search terms that relate to the one you are searching for. The Wonder Wheel shows your specific search term in the center of the wheel and all of the related terms around the wheel. You can click on one of the related terms to drill down. As you click a related term a new wheel appears allowing you to drill down even further.




Examples of Google Wonder Wheel:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&tbo=1&tbs=ww%3A1&q=healthcare+reform

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&tbo=1&tbs=ww%3A1&q=healthcare+reform#q=healthcare+problems&hl=en&tbs=ww:1&tbo=1&fp=1

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&tbo=1&tbs=ww%3A1&q=healthcare+reform#q=universal+healthcare+problems&hl=en&tbs=ww:1&tbo=1&fp=58940be18eaf5c6b

Many of you may be thinking, "These features have been around for a while." I would argue that while you could have encountered these two features already, you could be hiding the value under an options tab on your web site. Designing web sites takes a lot of planning, wire framing and usability testing, remember every user population is different. Web Design is a balancing act: on one side you want to give the user maximum value and control on the other side you want the site to be easy to use. Carefully consider how you plan, design and test your web sites, because some users may not dig deeper to find its hidden value.