Google abandons big, black drop-down menu

IDG News Service - Google has begun replacing the chunky, black drop-down menu of services it launched in November as part of an effort to integrate Google+ across its whole platform.

In response to user feedback, the company is replacing the drop-down menu with a static menu running across the top of its pages, according to a blog post Thursday.

The new menu provides a list of some of Google's most popular services -- including Search, Maps and YouTube -- across the top of its pages and gives users faster access to them than having to click the drop-down menu and then scroll through the list. The new menu does still have a drop-down menu for "more" services including Translate, Blogger and Reader, among others.

The rollout will take a few weeks, according to the company blog post. "We are going to first roll out the new Google bar quickly to everyone using Google products in English, followed by our international and Google Apps users over the next few weeks," a Google representative said.

"The new design retains many of the feature changes we made in November that proved popular," the blog post says, "including a unified search box and Google+ sharing and notifications across Google."