Google Images have had a make over. Surprise surprise, it's a makeover that makes them look just like Bing. In both cases we have a menu on the left hand side of the screen with a scroll bar that only appears when you mouse over it. The options are size, Bing has the addition of 'shape', both have colour or B&W options, type of image, such as line drawing, faces and so on, but I think Bing wins out slightly on options such as faces or head and shoulders. On the other hand Google gives me an option to search for icons, so perhaps at this point it's level pegging.
The main display of the images is a river, which Bing has had for a long while now - there are no individual pages, it just scrolls. On my screen I get about 15 images in each screenful from both engines. Mouseover gives me file name, size, text, pagelink and a similar option. Bing is virtually the same, except that I get a 'more sizes' option, which I've already found useful in the past. Google on the other hand gives me related searches as well. I'm still giving a draw at this point.
Clicking on an image in Google directly opens up at image to a larger size, gives me a right menu bar to click on the link to the website, a link to the full-size image and a 'may be subject to copyright' line. Closing the image at larger size dumps on the page that contains the image, which is irritating, because if I've got a link to the page, I'd automatically assume that I click on that to get there, but no, forcing me into a double click to get back to the image results. Bing edges ahead slightly however, as it opens up the image in a small size on the results page, with the originating page below, allowing me to scroll around it. I've also got more images in a left hand scroll as well. Consequently, I'm still going to go with Bing over Google on the image search function - but it's a close call. I've deliberately not mentioned the results themselves - in my tests they both produced different images (obviously) but they were all on topic and I was happy with them. So my standard advice still holds - if you don't quickly find what you want with one, try the other.
However, it would be remiss to stop at this point. While I've got you here, let me throw a few more alternatives in your direction.
Nachofoto for real time image search.
Coloralo for printable cartoons and colouring pages.
Panoramio for geobased images.
Seeklogo for er... logos!
Tag Galaxy - a personal favourite.
flickrCC for creative commons images over at Flickr.
The main display of the images is a river, which Bing has had for a long while now - there are no individual pages, it just scrolls. On my screen I get about 15 images in each screenful from both engines. Mouseover gives me file name, size, text, pagelink and a similar option. Bing is virtually the same, except that I get a 'more sizes' option, which I've already found useful in the past. Google on the other hand gives me related searches as well. I'm still giving a draw at this point.
Clicking on an image in Google directly opens up at image to a larger size, gives me a right menu bar to click on the link to the website, a link to the full-size image and a 'may be subject to copyright' line. Closing the image at larger size dumps on the page that contains the image, which is irritating, because if I've got a link to the page, I'd automatically assume that I click on that to get there, but no, forcing me into a double click to get back to the image results. Bing edges ahead slightly however, as it opens up the image in a small size on the results page, with the originating page below, allowing me to scroll around it. I've also got more images in a left hand scroll as well. Consequently, I'm still going to go with Bing over Google on the image search function - but it's a close call. I've deliberately not mentioned the results themselves - in my tests they both produced different images (obviously) but they were all on topic and I was happy with them. So my standard advice still holds - if you don't quickly find what you want with one, try the other.
However, it would be remiss to stop at this point. While I've got you here, let me throw a few more alternatives in your direction.
Nachofoto for real time image search.
Coloralo for printable cartoons and colouring pages.
Panoramio for geobased images.
Seeklogo for er... logos!
Tag Galaxy - a personal favourite.
flickrCC for creative commons images over at Flickr.
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