Google Search Box Gets Larger Text and Bigger Input Field
Author: Ian C. Langtree - Writer/Editor for Disabled World (DW)
Published: 2009/09/10 - Updated: 2026/04/15
Publication Type: Informative
Category Topic: Website - Related Publications
Contents: Synopsis - Introduction - Main - Insights, Updates
Synopsis: This information covers Google's decision to increase the size of its search box and the text displayed within it on the Google homepage, a change announced by Marissa Mayer, Google's then Vice President of Search Products and User Experience, via the official Google Blog. The update introduced larger text inside the search input field, as well as larger text in the autocomplete suggestions dropdown below the search box - practical accessibility improvements that are particularly useful for people with low vision, older adults, and anyone who finds small on-screen text difficult to read - Disabled World (DW).
- Topic Definition: Google Search Box Accessibility
Google Search Box Accessibility refers to the design and technical decisions made by Google to ensure that its primary search input interface - including the text field, typed query text, and autocomplete suggestion list - is usable by the widest possible range of people, including those with visual impairments, age-related vision decline, or other conditions that make reading small on-screen text difficult. This encompasses changes such as increasing the physical size of the search input box, enlarging the font size of text typed within it, and scaling up the text in the dropdown suggestion list that appears beneath the box, all of which reduce visual strain and improve the overall usability of Google's homepage for users of varying abilities and needs.
Introduction
Larger Google Search Text and Search Form Size
Google has increased the size of text in their search form and the actual search box size for easier viewing on its home page.
Main Content
Good news for those with visual impairments, and surfers whose eyesight just isn't what it used to be. Google have modified the way their search page looks by adding a larger search box and text fields so you can see your query more clearly.
Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president of search products and user experience, who oversees Google Search posted on the official Google Blog that,
"The new, larger Google search box features larger text when you type so you can see your query more clearly. It also uses a larger text size for the suggestions below the search box, making it easier to select one of the possible refinements."
"It symbolizes our focus on search and it makes our clean, minimalist homepage even easier and more fun to use. The new, larger Google box features larger text when you type so that you can see your query more clearly. It also uses a larger text size for the suggestions below the search box, making it easier to select one of the possible refinements," said Mayer.
There is also larger text in the drop down suggestions list. Although this is a minor change in the Google search page, you will notice that it makes search much more prominent and easier to read.
Google is also working on more noticeable changes to the search results themselves.
For more information on other Google accessible products for persons with disabilities see Google Online Services - Accessible Information Applications
Insights, Analysis, and Developments
Editorial Note: While a larger search box may seem like a small cosmetic tweak, Google's decision to scale up both the input field and the suggestion text reflects a broader and important shift in how major technology platforms approach usability - one that benefits not just users with visual impairments, but the wider population of people who simply find cluttered, small-text interfaces frustrating to use. Accessibility improvements at this scale, applied to one of the most visited websites on the internet, have a meaningful real-world impact, and this kind of incremental, user-focused design thinking remains as relevant today as it was when the change was first introduced - Disabled World (DW).
Author Credentials: Ian is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Disabled World, a leading resource for news and information on disability issues. With a global perspective shaped by years of travel and lived experience, Ian is a committed proponent of the Social Model of Disability-a transformative framework developed by disabled activists in the 1970s that emphasizes dismantling societal barriers rather than focusing solely on individual impairments. His work reflects a deep commitment to disability rights, accessibility, and social inclusion. To learn more about Ian's background, expertise, and accomplishments, visit his full biography.