The New LMGTFY

When LMGTFY was first created all the way back in 2008, it did one simple thing: it gave you a tool to teach other people how to use Google's internet search.  

The internet has grown since then, and LMGTFY has tried to keep up.  More search options were added, like video and image search.  Support for other useful services, like Bing and Wikipedia, were added.  The site was translated by generous volunteers into many languages so that people around the world could use it.

As time went on, the aging foundation showed it's cracks...

LMGTFY wasn't so hot on mobile devices.

International support was present, but it wasn't first class.  For example, while visitors from France might see the site in French, their search would still be directed to google.com when google.fr would've been better.

And while the animation did a good job of illustrating how to use Google's search, other services weren't illustrated very well.

It was time to rebuild, and make it better.

The world is still full of people that rely on others to use the internet on their behalf - and that number will only grow.  There are also more services than ever before, and if we were going to have any hope of helping people help themselves with this ever growing field of internet tools, LMGTFY needed a redo from the ground up.

And that's what we did.

LMGTFY has been rebuilt to provide a better experience for everyone that uses it.  A lot has changed, but the important stuff is still the same: when you use it, and why you use it.

The best way to see what's new is to just go and play with it, but here are some highlights:

More Services (with more coming soon)

The new platform makes it easier to build first-class support for teaching people how to use various search services, like Bing or DuckDuckGo, so you can expect to see new stuff more often.

Better Illustrations

The new LMGTFY has vastly improved search illustrations.  In addition to a powerfully educational lead-in that orients the viewer as to the very nature of the internet and what search engines even are, the search illustrations now take place in a simulated browser.  That's right: a browser inside your browser.

Better on Mobile

LMGTFY works better than ever on mobile devices running iOS and Android.  Painstaking efforts were taken to ensure visitors will see what they should, regardless of the device they are using.  Search illustrations are no exception.  Everything down to the finest detail, including the appearance of the simulated browser, looks great on mobile.

Better International Support

LMGTFY has been available with numerous language translations for years, but visitors would always be directed to the english version of the selected search service.  Now, for search services that have localized offerings, LMGTFY will forward users to the appropriate destination. For example, if sie sprechen deutsch, you'll end up at google.de instead of google.com.

New Logo

The new logo is a reflection of LMGTFY's future as a service for teaching others how to help themselves, and the wide variety of options available for doing so.

This is just the beginning!  The new setup makes it much easier to do some cool things that just weren't possible before.  Stay tuned.

Thanks for reading,
Jim