Google has no shortage of services around the web, but those various information resources often seem disconnected. A new Google interface, called WDYL, resolves that by bringing together previews of various specialized Google searches in one place.
Google has no shortage of services around the web, but those various information resources often seem disconnected. A new Google interface, called WDYL – or “What Do You Love?” – resolves that by bringing together previews of various specialized Google searches in one place.
Turn your browser to WDYL.com and Google will ask you the question of the hour: What do you love? Your response should go into the search box, and that little heart button on the right replaces your typical “search” button.
You can enter anything you feel like, from monkeys, to love, to the future, or one of my favorite hobbies: crime.
The results that are pulled will showcase results and options for the various Google services, such as sketch-ups, Google Image Search results, Google trends, Google Books, and so forth. Beyond providing a preview of what you’ll find, each segment of the WDYL interface gives you a link to the service itself.
The services displayed range from Patent Search to Picasa to Gmail to Chrome to Mobile to Moderator and well beyond.
Some of the widgets being displayed, however, are less than completely relevant.
For example, the Gmail widgets always give you the same option – email someone to tell them you love the topic you searched for – and takes you to the standard Gmail page if you click on the widget. Picasa previews also present some interesting “issues,” since fairly harmless searches – such as the term “Gmail” – pull up pictures of scantily clad women.
WDYL seems to be an exploration interface, and little more at this time. While there are some elements that branch out into mobile, local, and even social features, WDYL itself is essentially a link hub. It does, however, resemble a greater push to integrate products and increase visibility for some of the less-known Google services.
As for whether there’s a future to the product that might be something more, the only word from Google is that, “This is an experiment we’ve been playing with, and we hope users will play with it too and let us know what they think.”