Search Bar in Google is a font size too large and buttons are too large and

Question

Level 1

8 points

Search Bar in Google is a font size too large and buttons are too large and

Ok, I have this really weird problem where the font size in the search bar in google is very large and the buttons are not the oval mac buttons, but are rectangular and also large, but all the other fonts on the page are the correct size.

I have so far tried
- changing the font size (which changes the size of everything and the text size in the search bar is corrected but everything else is too small and the buttons are still rectangular)
- restarting safari
- restarting my computer
- clearing my history
- emptying the cache
- removing all cookies and website icons

Under the appearance tab in safari the standard font is times 16 and fixed-width font is courier 13, which is the exact same as my friends who does not have the problem. Also in the advanced tag the option to "never use font sizes smaller than ..." is unchecked.

If anyone has any suggestions on how to solve this problem that would be great.

Thanks,
Jeff

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6)

Posted on Sep 9, 2009 9:22 PM

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Answer 1

Jeff86 Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 9, 2009 9:50 PM in response to defender39

yeah, this is really strange, I'm glad im not the only one encountering the problem. I thought it might of been something I did. So it looks like google thinks that we are using a mobile device?

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Answer 2

Sep 9, 2009 9:43 PM in response to Jeff86

I'm having the same problem. I checked and Firefox is rendering Google properly. Oddly enough, when I go to Yahoo in Safari I think it's routing me to the mobile version (m.www.yahoo.com). Looking closer at how Google is rendering, it appears it's also the mobile version.

Message was edited by: defender39

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Answer 3

Sep 9, 2009 9:59 PM in response to Jeff86

This is happening to me too! And it did NOT happen when I upgraded to 10.6, it began sometime in the middle of the day, from one hour to the next it changed. I also cleared cookies, caches, etc. with no luck.

Google DOES NOT display correctly in my version of firefox. I have the same large text and image in both browsers.

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Answer 4

Sep 10, 2009 1:00 AM in response to Calabreezy

I have this problem too. It seems to be related to how Google perceives the user agent in Safari. I found that I could change the size of the buttons (but not the search box) by enabling the Developer menu in Safari's Preferences/ Advanced tab, and selecting another User Agent.
I selected Firefox 3.5.

Maybe Google is mistaking the 'regular' Safari for the new version in iPhone OS 3.1.

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Answer 5

Sep 10, 2009 1:53 AM in response to Jeff86

That's really odd, because I have the same problem, but with Mozilla.

And when I check Google with Safari, it's all normal... The iGoogle search bar is normal, but the normal Google bar has been a pain to use since yesterday.

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Answer 6

Sep 10, 2009 1:56 AM in response to Dimitar Dimitrov

Boy am I glad I found this thread! I was thinking I was going mad (OK well madder than before anyway)

Glad I'm not alone on this one with my large google search bar and buttons this morning. Guess the big G need to patch whatever code changes they've made recently for Safari.

Thanks all for saving me the $$$ on a trip to the optician 😉

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Answer 7

Sep 10, 2009 2:18 AM in response to Jeff86

I have the same problem, it started this morning just after I did a Software Update which included iTunes 9 and Safari 4.0.3. Main text on Google is ok - it's just the search bar and text is massive and buttons rectangular not oval. Firefox appears to be normal. I am using OS 10.5.8 - not 10.6. Could it be something to do with the software update? Have restarted but it's still the same.
Any help on this would be great as it's not very pleasing to the eye!
Thanks!

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Answer 8

JM-G

Level 1

0 points

Sep 10, 2009 8:15 AM in response to Jeff86

Hi,
Google announced this "minor but exciting change" today; it is supposed to "re-emphasize their focus on search" and make their "spartan home page even more fun to use"...
In other words, it's all normal and not related to Mac OS X; I don't think we can easily change it, but given the universal complains it won't probably take long before they change it back to a normal size.

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Answer 9

Sep 10, 2009 9:31 AM in response to JM-G

Could you possibly point me in the direction of where you found this information about the "minor but exciting change"?

I'm not excited in the least, nor do I think its minor! Everyone in my lecture hall can read what I'm searching for the font is so huge...

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Answer 10

solefald

Level 1

110 points

Sep 10, 2009 10:00 AM in response to Jeff86

apparently it's not a bug, is a feature...

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Google-search-bar-size-homepage,8628.html

i was able to fix this "feature" by using Stylish extension for Firefox and writing my own CSS that overwrites Google's "improvements"

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Answer 11

Sep 10, 2009 10:54 AM in response to Jeff86

I have 12 desktop macs. and 3 laptop mac's.

I have only had this problem on one of my laptops so far. I have not checked my other two laptops to see if this was effecting them. However I did check all my desktop computers and they ae not facing this problem.

All my desktops are not updated on the new itunes and quicktime patches since this thing hit my laptop around 0100am CST.

Has anybody found any work arounds even if it's simply using a homemade script.

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Answer 12

Sep 11, 2009 11:26 AM in response to solefald

Well, it's a "feature" that bugs me. The font is huge, cartoonish and distracting and I happen to like my Mac interface not f'd with by having those cartoonish ugly, squares for "Google Search" & "I'm feeling lucky" replacing the aqua buttons put in place by Apple. If I wanted to stare at a goofy Windows interface all day, I'd switch to Windows, Google!

I wouldn't mind this so much if you could change this in the Google preferences at least, but to force this crap down our throats reminds me that we really need to be wary of how powerful Google is. They can decide things for us and because they are so huge they really don't care what we think.

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Answer 13

Harl3y

Level 1

0 points

Sep 12, 2009 2:44 AM in response to Jeff86

How ridiculous is this change, browsers offer the option to change the size of the font manually, why are we all forced to look at an ugly large search bar that frankly looks repulsive on screen. Why would we even want this functionality, honestly google fire whoever approved this decision, then slap yourself on the wrist. Terrible.

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Answer 14

LCee

Level 1

69 points

Sep 13, 2009 10:30 AM in response to Harl3y

I'm seeing the same thing as others have responded. I'm starting to hate google and wish they had competition. I guess the font increase is to show how they feel about themselves even though it looks ridiculous. I feel they are slowly encroaching into every application like a virus. Sad.

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Answer 15

Oct 11, 2009 7:18 AM in response to Jeff86

So, has anybody found CSS code that really takes care of the problem? I tried a couple of csses I found posted on the web, but neither one took care of this Google eye sore problem. After trying to adjust to the new size, frankly, I still find it bloody irritating.

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