After Google launched the new Reader, I couldn’t help thinking they might just give Groups a re-design as well. My hunch was correct. Brett Lider announced a couple of days ago on the Official Google Blog that a new version of Groups is currently in Beta. It looks a little nicer, but beyond that, no extra functionality was included. Oh yes, there was. There’s now a drop-down menu at the top (Ajaxified) which displays the groups I’m subscribed to without needing to visit a separate page.

Beyond that, I think the old version of Groups made better use of the space on the page. When I log into the Groups Beta, my groups get grouped in a right-hand column, and since I’m subscribed to more than 10, the page ends up stretching down with lots of white space in the main column and the groups squished in the right column. It just doesn’t look good.

Overall, I think they’re going in the right direction with the new version of Groups, but it still needs work, particularly in the page layout. I just don’t think enough time was devoted to thinking through the functional areas of the Groups, and how they need to be arranged on the page.