The Google+ redesign from last week may look pretty, but it's also missing a lot of features that were available in the classic layout. This is true of every product revamp or relaunch: there will always be a tradeoff between getting all the bells and whistles of the new version and keeping the things you're used to on the old one. There's a whole help page that lays out most of the changes and features that the redesign still lacks, ranging from the simplification of profile pages to the (temporary) removal of polls from the web version. Fortunately, upgrading is still entirely optional, so for now you can stick with the classic version of Google+ if that suits you better.

In the meantime, Google is listening to user feedback and working to continually improve their product. In a post on Google+, Luke Wroblewski shared a few changes that he and his team have been working on for the web client. For now, these include:

  • a 3 column stream view for large screens (of at least 1920 pixels wide),
  • the ability to reply to a comment from context,
  • removing the limit on the number of circle streams shown in the side menu (previously 6), and
  • adding the option to view 'Posts from Circle' from the Following screen.

Screen Shot 2015-11-25 at 4.27.22 PM

The changes should be rolling out now, and the team promises to continue updating Google+ for Android, iOS, and the web. However, until we reach feature parity, you'll have to continue managing that early adopter syndrome.

Source: Luke Wroblewski (Google+)