December 10, 2004 | Category:

Google Length Weighting

So, Google have got a new toy. Google Suggest uses some funky javascript to get the top results for your request as you type it, character by character. Although it was a little sluggish at first (slow connection that was being used to download a lot at the same time), it works pretty well.

Just for fun, figure out your own Google Length Weighting. Type in your name, character by character, until a search result appears in the suggestions which will list you at the top (spaces count towards the count). The number of characters is your Google Length Weighting. At the moment, I’m about a 7. What are you?

Update: Of course, within twenty minutes of posting, I find out that someone else has had the same idea. Ned Batchelder has the same Google Suggest game (sans numbers).

Update 2: As it is with all things hackery, good suggestions get made. That is why we now have the Google Suggest Firefox Extension. It’s proof of concept at the moment, but I’m sure it’ll be taken further.