Only hours after launching vibrant background imagery on its homepage, Google stripped the page back to its usual stark white.
Earlier today, anyone going to Google's homepage probably was surprised to find the site looking a lot like Google's biggest search rival , Microsoft 's Bing.
Google today started offering customized background photos such as this one to its home page.
Google had made what was supposed to be a one-day-only change to its usually stark, white homepage with colorful images from artists, photographers and sculptors. Images from the likes of Jeff Koons, Tom Otterness and Polly Apfelbaum served as background images on Google's homepage.
Google said today in a blog post that on Friday, the site's homepage will go back to normal.
That schedule was moved up -- way up. Between 1:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. Eastern today, the background images disappeared.
Google said it had planned to run an explanation of why the homepage had a new look along with the imagery. Because of a technical bug, the explanation didn't show up.
"As a result, many people thought we had permanently changed our homepage, so we decided to stop today's series early," wrote Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president of Search Products and User Experience. "We appreciate your feedback and patience as we experiment and iterate."
Many users can't be unhappy to see the page back to its normal stark white. Earlier today, there was widespread condemnation by users who didn't appreciate the new look. Many also were critical that they needed to create a Google account to get rid of the background images.
Some took to Twitter to air their grievances about the Bing-like change. So many people were tweeting about the new look that they made the phrase "background image" one of Twitter's top 10 trends.
Jayfanelli tweeted, "If Apple ran Google.com, they would've never added a background image. They would've made the white background whiter." And Designbyblake twittered, "I love being able to add custom background on Google now. I just uploaded a giant all white image."
And Microsoft, showing a sense of humor, had a little Twitter fun at Google's expense with MSEurope tweeting, "We've lost a background image, if found please return to bing.com ;)"
Today's imagery on Google comes on the heels of last week's announcement that Google was unveiling a new feature that enables users to add a favorite photo or image to the background of the Google homepage.
"Whether you choose a photo of a loved one, a picture of your favorite vacation destination or even a design you created yourself, Google.com is now yours to customize," wrote Mayer, in a blog post last week. "For those of you who want to enjoy the clean, simple look of Google, as well as your personalized view, we've made it easy to switch between your customized search page and classic Google."
Users will be able to customize the homepage with one of Google's images, or with their own pictures from their computers or their Picasa Web Album. Users who don't want to change can leave the page its usual utilitarian white.
Today's new look for Google's homepage was startling though, since it so closely mirrors the vibrant look of Microsoft Bing's homepage .
"The new look could give the impression that they are copying the more colorful Bing," said Dan Olds, an analyst with The Gabriel Consulting Group. "I'm not sure if this is true or not, but it's not a bad idea to copy the successful attributes of competitors . Being able to select your own pictures is a nice feature, but it's not a huge advantage, it's more of an evolution in the search wars."