I have a few gripes with Googles main interface. There are a lot of behavioral inconsistencies when typing a query into the text field and then navigating from the current section to a different section.

I love being able to type an address or a map query into the text field on the main web search page and then simply selecting Maps from above the text field. It's great because you don't have to waste time waiting for the map of your default location to load when you select maps before inputting a query. Google apparently thinks differently of this behavior across all sections.

There are actually three different things that could happen when you type in your query into the main web search and then select a section before hitting search. If you type a query and then select either News or Maps, your query rides along to the selected section and the search action is automatically applied. If you select Images or Groups, your query gets passed to that section, but the search is not automatically done. And oddly enough, if you select Froogle, your query doesn't even get passed to that section.

The inconsistencies don't actually stop there. If you are at a search result page and select a different section, your query is passed along to that section and the search is automatically applied, no matter what section. Also, if you are not at a search results page, but at a regular search page, type a query into the text field and then hit a different section, thing's also don't work the same way. For example, if you are at the main Groups page, type a query and then select the web section, the query gets passed along and executed, but if you are at Froogle or Image Search, the query is simply passed along without the query being executed.

For an interface that gets used more so than most, if not all other interfaces on the internet, why not just fix these things? There is no way at least one capable Google employee hasn't noticed these things. So what is the reasoning behind not fixing this? It isn't like it's too hard for them to change the interface, they did it when the merged maps into local and then renamed local as maps a bit later.

Their simple interface is something that really makes Google unique. It is something that has always been associated with Google, but it's one thing to have a nice, simple design, and it's another thing to have an inconsistent and haphazardly implemented interface. There must be something more behind why they have never at least made the interface work in a consistent manor. Is there something really intelligent behind how the interface works? Was it shaped this way based on research? I don't know, I just really can't see that being the case.