How to get back the old Google image search layout

The new Google Image search interface hasn’t gone down well on all users. It has too many problems. For one, it hides the image details on the search page. You have to hover the mouse over a thumbnail to view it which makes it very difficult when you are looking for images of a particular size. You also have to keep your mouse away from the screen to prevent random thumbnails popping over the page. It’s a bad design. It’s useless, It’s annoying.

Switch back to the classic interface

Some users seem to have found a “Switch to basic version” link at the bottom of the search page. But the new search results page actually has no “bottom” as the results are presented in a page-less never ending scroll. If you don’t see this link, there are other ways.

The other trick is to add the parameter &sout=1 at the end of the search URL string and press enter. This will switch back to the classic Google image search interface. All you need to do is to create a new search in your browser and add this parameter to it. Here are the steps required for different browsers.

Firefox

Method 1

1. Install the Redirector add-on. Then click Tool >Add-ons, select Redirector and click Options.

2. Click on Add to create a new redirect and enter the following values:

Include pattern:  http*://www.google.*/images?*
Exclude Pattern:  http*://www.google.*/images?*sout=1*
Redirect to:  http$1://www.google.$2/images?$3&sout=1
Select pattern type as Wildcard and click OK to save changes.

Now when you visit Google image search you will be automatically redirected to the old interface.

Method 2

1. In the Firefox URL bar, type “about:config” and press Enter.

2. In the Filter box type “general.useragent.extra.firefox”. When you find it, right-click on the entry and click Modify.

3. Replace the value to  “Mozilla/2.0″.

4. Click the “OK” button to close.

Chrome

1. Click on the wrench icon and choose Options.

2. Under the Basic tab you will find Default search. Click on Manage.

3. Click Add and in the URL box enter http://www.google.co.in/images?hl=en&q=%s&sout=1

4. Name the new search and enter a keyword. The keyword is which is just a shortcut to use the search engine. It can be a single character or a word.

5. Click OK to save.

Opera

Opera by default switches to the classic Google image search as the new interface is incompatible with the browser. So Opera users don’t have to do anything.