The mobile app store is naturally designed for use on mobile devices, but one day, people may want or need to browse the catalog on a desktop or laptop computer. Unlike the iOS App Store, Google’s Play Store has always been web-friendly, allowing people to search for things Google offers, and even install Android apps from a web browser. However, the Google App Store on the Internet has not fully kept up with the company’s other design changes. This finally happened quickly, but this change may not satisfy everyone.
It has been several years since Google really changed the appearance of the Play Store on the web browser. The last time was when the Material Design language was first introduced. In contrast, the Android app on the Google Play Store has undergone some major changes since then, leaving visual and behavioral inconsistencies between the two online stores. However, in the near future, this will no longer be the case, and the web experience will actually follow the mobile application, which may surprise some people.
Online shops are not entirely ideal in some situations. Some people find the navigation panel on the side a bit confusing, and when viewing the store in a narrow browser window, the overall layout does not shrink well. All in all, the website is fully functional, but cannot provide the smoothest experience. Sometimes the operation is too slow and uncomfortable.
Google seems to be preparing to bid farewell to the old online version of the Play Store, at least based on the information that Android Police can collect. The design and flow of the new website reflect the consistency of search. For example, the navigation panel is gone, and most of the settings and options previously found there are now organized in a menu, available from the user profile picture in the upper right corner.
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Despite the name Google App Store, it is not just a place to provide apps or games. The new design still has other digital content, such as books and videos. In fact, these sections are also divided into more subsections, the most useful of which is the device category under the main heading of the application. The behavior of searching for apps and content is similar to that of mobile apps. If it exactly matches the content you entered, a shortcut that links directly to the app will be presented in the auto-complete.
Not everyone likes the new design, especially it sometimes takes up a lot of blank space, which may be consistent with the new Material Design style. However, it is said to be faster, which is an improvement that all users want. All that is left is that Google really promotes it to everyone. If it is only doing A/B testing, it may take a while.
