Google has also been a bit fan of keeping the homepage minimalist, which is why it came as such a shock to users to find that last week it started to automatically apply a background picture to the homepage.

Having raised numerous complaints about the feature Google has since stopped these images from automatically appearing and instead offers users the option to manually set a background image. The move is seen by many as a way of keeping users that may otherwise start using Bing due to the visual impact it has.

WHatever the reason, Google’s hompage is becoming more and more cluttered with the additional feautures, and although it may still look quite bare it’s moving away from the minimalist feel it’s kept for so long.