Google Plus gets a major visual update

Google has launched a brand new user interface on their Google Plus platform.

This has come so sudden that almost everyone is shocked at the major changes that have been introduced.

All the third party browser extensions and apps are probably broken which is annoying the developers who worked hard on them.

The new interface is a major change from how other social networks look and operate. It does not feel like Diaspora, Facebook or Twitter anymore. But there are still some similarities and inspirations especially from Facebook.

There is a bar at the left with all the features now being called apps.

Chat has been integrated in the right side of the display which is somewhat similar to how Facebook does it today.

User and brand profiles get a cover image option which sadly is also similar to Facebook Timeline.

Using the new interface for a couple of hours now, I have found some annoyances…

1. If you are on a widescreen display you are not going to like the left aligned interface and tons of whitespace.
2. You can no longer remove the preview text from your shares.
3. You can only have two circles in the streaming page visible at any given time. Rest of them are now hidden from the view in a dropdown.

Overall this is a solid update which seems to be focused on incorporating support for the upcoming third party apps and services.