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October 25, 2007

Google’s SearchMash Adds Snap Shot Previews. But Why Is It In Flash?

Erick Schonfeld

54 comments »

searchmash.pngGoogle’s Web 2.0 search playpen, SearchMash, now has a Flash version. When you mouse over a search result, you get a Snap Shot preview of the Web page in a pane on the right. The Snap Shots are powered by Bill Gross’ search engine Snap.com. (We use Snap Shots on outside links, as do two million other Websites).

Flash is so pretty, but can it truly be as fast as Ajax? Maybe not, but it is getting fast enough for me. SearchMash is playing around with the search interface possibilities of each with two different versions of its site. Which is better? (See earlier TechCrunch coverage on SearchMash here)

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  • Sphere It

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 25th, 2007 at 9:47 pm and is filed under Company & Product Profiles, Web 2.0 News & Ideas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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  1. Ryan Stewart - Rich Internet Application Mountaineer

    October 26th, 2007 at 4:51 pm

  2. Google’s SearchMash Enhanced With Flash And SnapShots

    November 2nd, 2007 at 4:02 pm

  3. ideasonideas - Eric Karjaluoto discusses design, brands and experience » Blog Archive » Hey Google! Where’d you get that logo?

    February 26th, 2008 at 2:13 pm

  4. flash addiction explained » Archives » Google makes love to Flex with its SearchMash application

    April 12th, 2008 at 4:12 am

Comments

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  1. Fake Michael Arrington

    October 25th, 2007 at 9:52 pm

    May be they are trying it in flash, since it looks better.

  2. MikeW

    October 25th, 2007 at 9:56 pm

    I think you’ve coined a new snowclone (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowclone):

    “X. But why is it in Flash?”

  3. Doogie Howser, MD

    October 25th, 2007 at 9:57 pm

    The snap.com previews are not cool, they are nauseating.

    It doesn’t matter if they’re based on flash, ajax, or your-latest version of scumware, they still suck.

    And so do all the ads that similarly pop up from the text.

  4. emelec

    October 25th, 2007 at 10:06 pm

    Some people still believes in Flash . . sooner or later they will realize Flash is dead . . web 2.0 does not include that

  5. Jon

    October 25th, 2007 at 10:06 pm

    Flash 9 with Actionscript 3 is much, much faster than Javascript in a variety of metrics. So, for big web-apps like this, or fauxto, or yahoo web messenger it makes a lot of sense.

    Here’s one set of benchmarks I found.
    http://oddhammer.com/actionscriptperformance/set4/

  6. Blackysky

    October 25th, 2007 at 10:07 pm

    flash … ugly .. ugly.. not a good choice at all…I’m not sure what a snap shot bring more …. I think the text is still more relevant…

  7. Andre de Cavaignac

    October 25th, 2007 at 10:14 pm

    Ajax is much slower than Flash. The Flash runtime (and for that matter a real *gasp* desktop or rich client app) is much faster than any bit of JavaScript. In fact, JavaScript is inherently slow, and worse, not multithreaded, so it can’t do multiple things at once.

  8. Andrew

    October 25th, 2007 at 10:14 pm

    who cares about site preview? I mean you can’t see shit in them, you can’t even decipher the text…all you can see is a layout…not really usefull.

    And agreed on that snap thing…annoying as hell, and its a pain in the ass to close.

  9. Fake Fake Michael Arrington

    October 25th, 2007 at 10:33 pm

    The way Snap is used on SearchMash is awesome, the way that Snap is used on TechCrunch sucks.

  10. Automatt

    October 25th, 2007 at 10:40 pm

    Get rid of the snap previews. They get in the way — popping up when they aren’t needed — and they are somewhat less than useful.

  11. a Polar Bear

    October 25th, 2007 at 10:49 pm

    @8, I agree.

    i hate site preview, it’s annoying.
    who uses it anyways - they say don’t judge a book by it’s cover…with this, don’t judge a website by it’s snap preview thumbnail

    and besides, what’s with TC hating on Flash - i like flash, flash is by no means dead or anywhere near it

  12. Yakov

    October 25th, 2007 at 11:03 pm

    I

  13. Brett

    October 25th, 2007 at 11:16 pm

    Agreed, I hate snap. It’s so annoying. I see the damn link, I’m making the effort to move the mouse over there to click on it, yes I want to go to it. No I don’t want to see it before I go to it.

    Oh right a comment about searchmash…whatever.

  14. Henk

    October 25th, 2007 at 11:40 pm

    The right answer is: those damned popups are annoying, in flash, in ajax or whatever :( I can’t see any point for using them.

  15. HeavyWave

    October 25th, 2007 at 11:41 pm

    I’m sorry, but all those 2 mln webmasters should shoot themselves in the head. Snaps is really really annoying and totally useless. The one who made it must be a complete idiot.
    And thanks god you don’t use Snaps in RSS.

  16. bellgo

    October 25th, 2007 at 11:52 pm

    Great addition to search. I love those thumbshots, I wish they will appear on google search - they are helpful in seeing what’s behind a link and actually youi can find what you are looking for in a much faster way. Thumbs up!

  17. Mo Kakwan

    October 26th, 2007 at 12:00 am

    I don’t like the framed results. Bleagh!

    Flash is fine. Anyone seen seeqpod? Most amazing music search ever and it’s all in flex. Quick too!

  18. Kuldeep

    October 26th, 2007 at 12:05 am

    Its pretty fast!! I am impressed.
    Only thing is that in flash right click and center click doesnt work…and its tooo annoying…who the fck care abt setting the flash..thy shud really come up with some soln for it..

    Keep it up, Google!!

  19. Fnord

    October 26th, 2007 at 12:20 am

    Why is it in Flash, and what does it require that neither Safari or Opera implements? I went there with Safari, and got a message saying that I need to use Firefox or Internet Explorer.

    FAIL!

  20. Ron

    October 26th, 2007 at 12:39 am

    I hate the stupid snap thing as much as the next person. Interesting to note how on one computer using FF I don’t see any of those annoying popups on Techcrunch or any other site, while on another computer they still popup. I haven’t disabled or enabled anything on either computer. Still, on the computer that doesn’t see it, well I’m not missing much and I don’t miss it.

  21. gottino

    October 26th, 2007 at 2:32 am

    The real downside is: Only works with Firefox and Explorer. What about Safari or any other real Mac browser (Firefox doesn’t count here)? I thought Google sits in Apple’s Board? Go back and get a standard page out!

    http://iwanttoshadowstevejobs.com

  22. micfo.com

    October 26th, 2007 at 3:22 am

    Because flash says many language in motion. :)

  23. rungss

    October 26th, 2007 at 4:07 am

    yes surprisingly the Flash version is indeed faster than the AJAX version..

  24. MeetingFlex.com

    October 26th, 2007 at 4:37 am

    Google is losing its simplicity.

    http://www.meetingflex.com
    video+social networking

  25. Michael

    October 26th, 2007 at 6:07 am

    To all the Ajax aficionados and Flash-is-dead-sayers:

    I am currently coding Ajax as well as Flex (which is Flash for developers). Flex is a way nicer environment for coding sthg application-like (as opposed to document-centric).

    Given that Adobe with its deep pockets is behind it now and the trend towards RIAs Flex/Flash is far from being dead IMO. Au contraire, I suspect an even better future for it (Flex convinced ME and I kept away from Flash in disgust ever since it existed).

    –
    http://viibee.com, online dating is fun again

  26. Thinker

    October 26th, 2007 at 7:00 am

    Is it “But Why is it in Flash?” day, Even Michael posted an article with same words in Title!

  27. Krish

    October 26th, 2007 at 7:06 am

    I like flash ‘and’ ajax ;) who cares what is used - as long as the end users likes the product and works just fine…

    –
    Krish
    http://www.iremotepc.com

  28. Marc C

    October 26th, 2007 at 7:11 am

    Flash is definitely superior for this type of user experience as it is browser independent ajax breaks in opera (always) and sometimes in flock and firefox unless the site invests in many weeks of troubleshooting.

    I find snap shots helpful.Do other techcrunch readers use their mouse to read or something? They nearly always. Help me except the ones that show other techcrunch pages.

  29. lvcjmac

    October 26th, 2007 at 7:11 am

    I hate the snap previews. It’s a glorified pop up. If I want to see the website, I’ll click on the link… lvcjmac

  30. Troy Gilbert

    October 26th, 2007 at 7:25 am

    Flash slower than Ajax? Hardly. Ajax would be preferable for “salt-n-pepper” type interactivity that augments an otherwise static document (or where progressive degradation is required). Ajax would *maybe* be slower in that case depending on what the browser’s startup time for the Flash plug-in was, but beyond that, Flash would beat the pants off of JavaScript.

    And Flash is hardly dead, anyone who thinks that is simply stuck in their rut. With the predominance of broadband in the web audience, users are demanding more and more experiences that can only be delivered via Flash. You can’t do YouTube with Ajax, nor the majority of the casual web games out there. The web’s not just for trolling forums and electronic docs anymore, you know.

  31. Myron

    October 26th, 2007 at 7:29 am

    Its gorgeous. Adobe is building steam. Looks pretty similar to the snap.com interface.

    It will never be on Google.com but maybe a user option for igoogle.

  32. Punchme

    October 26th, 2007 at 8:28 am

    Sez something that goog is using flash and snap. Seems like a lot of folks here are out of touch

  33. stan effie

    October 26th, 2007 at 8:32 am

    The new version is pretty cool. The Flash vs Ajax is not really relevant since SearchMash is a playground, and different tools should be used there. The previews to me are an example to innovation and an attempt to bring something new to the very traditional Google UI. I have been using the Snap Shots Add On for Firefox and it works great on Google classic, showing not only thumbnail previews but also Wikipedia, Imdb, Amazon summaries and much more.

  34. Saagar

    October 26th, 2007 at 8:37 am

    Why are u guys against flash so much. Everyone posts a title but why is it using flash. What happened, did Adobe refuse to be ur sponsor :)

  35. Mike Potter

    October 26th, 2007 at 8:44 am

    The site is built using Flex, with Flash being the generated output.

    James Ward’s Is It Flex app says its Flex:
    http://www.jamesward.org/is_it.....search.swf

    Mike Potter
    Adobe Flex Marketing
    http://flex.org/

  36. John / SocialNext

    October 26th, 2007 at 9:21 am

    Wow. SearchMash looks a lot like the features Ask already offers.

    How innovative!

  37. Tom

    October 26th, 2007 at 9:34 am

    It does look a bit like the Ask features but the results don’t suck like Asks!

  38. Browse

    October 26th, 2007 at 10:17 am

    It should use roll-overs instead of clicks to target the preview. Having to click on a result on a search site to PREVIEW it is completely unintuitive.

    Also, WTF doesn’t it let me access it from Safari?

  39. KLTC

    October 26th, 2007 at 10:41 am

    I happen to like using Snap Shots - on Techcrunch and on other places like Digg. I’d love how I can view an YouTube video or look up information on IMDB without having to leave the page.

    To Doogie, Andrew, Polar Bear, if you do not like it that much, why don’t you just turn it off (upper right hand corner) yourself instead of telling us about it?

  40. Tom

    October 26th, 2007 at 10:49 am

    “But why doesn’t it support Camino when it supports Firefox?”

    Doesn’t Google realize they use the same rendering engine?

  41. steve ballmer

    October 26th, 2007 at 11:49 am

    Flash is only a tempoary measure! Because Flash is DEAD!
    http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
    PopFly+Silverlight makes Flash Obsolete!

    At the web 2.0 thingy we gave a preview of “Microsoft Online Composition Media Aggregation Layout Toolset”, at the time I wasn’t exactly 100% so I couldn’t remember the name, so I just told them it was named PopFly. I don’t know what made made say that name, but it has gone over well.
    So, PopFly! PopFly! PopFly!
    Adobe has been an annoyance to me for years, we have tried everything we could to dislodge them but they just keep cranking out good products. We even tried a few sabotage .dll’s, but they always figure it out in no time at all and issue a patch.
    But I think we now have the right Combination, PopFly and Silverlight. Here’s my plan:

    Those companies who will not adopt these technologies will be “downlisted” at MS.
    IE8 will require it’s installation.
    The booby-trap .dll’s will come out weekly.
    Adobe will be marginalized!

    It’s a beautiful day at Microsoft!

  42. Mike

    October 26th, 2007 at 12:13 pm

    Found this Cool Web 2.0 search site Plus Personal Start Page too… http://www.WireSeek.com

  43. Eric Karjaluoto

    October 26th, 2007 at 1:15 pm

    I had a chuckle upon seeing this post.

    Ever get the feeling that something’s a little too close for comfort? Take a peek: http://www.ideasonideas.com/2007/10/google-logo/

    Cheers,

    Eric

  44. Castelar

    October 26th, 2007 at 1:37 pm

    Not seeing any flash or Snap Shots at all, hmmmm

  45. surfurls.com

    October 26th, 2007 at 2:23 pm

    posted this article at surfurls.com

  46. tipin

    October 26th, 2007 at 7:25 pm

    I like snap.com and the tool is very useful when viewing video, as someone as mentioned above. I bet you will like it if you try it on video.google.com

  47. David Mackey

    October 26th, 2007 at 11:31 pm

    Wish Google would get on the social search bandwagon.

  48. ryan

    October 27th, 2007 at 7:02 pm

    snap is horrible, and when implemented on any website it severly degrades the user experience, however in this case i would have to admit that having a preview pane, that is out of the way of the text i would like to read and generaly not a disturbance on the task i am currently performing does make it a richer experience.

    an extra feature i would like, is to be able to show or hide the preview pane.

    in my opinion it is a great marrige of the right technologies used in the right context.

    great to see google use snap the way should have been used.

  49. Flash The Ripper

    October 28th, 2007 at 8:12 am

    The strong points of Flex technology (SearchMash is developed in) is big set of ready-to use UI components (=fast prototyping), high debugging capabilities, compile-time error checking, strong variable typing and overall proximity of ActionScript3 language to the latest ECMAScript implementation, which brings AS3 fast towards the best practices of coding. Javascript2 will have some features, but they are already presented in AS3, today.

    Morevover, Tamarin project brings both AS and JS languages even closer together, so implementing SearchMash today in AS3/Flash might make future migration to the Javascript3 easier.

  50. Anthony

    October 29th, 2007 at 6:31 pm

    Haha. Flash dead??? That’s funny. How can you say that when all the video sharing sites you visit are in Flash.

    And with regards to corporate softwares, Flash is just getting started. I should know cause I am a web developer.

    You actually have it the other way around. Flash is just getting started while AJAX will die in the near future.

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