And while the Share button is annoying to me, seeing my photo is worse. It’s clutter on a clean surface. It always draws my eye, and not in a good way. If it annoys you too, there’s a super easy hack to make it at least slightly less bad. This trick won’t help with the Share button or that equally annoying red box with the Plus nag, but at least you can make the avatar image disappear.
Click on your avatar in the upper right hand corner of Google’s new homepage and select “Profile.” Next, click the Edit Profile button. Just below your profile picture, click the “Change Photo” link. Upload a plain white image, and set that as your profile photo.
Presto! You’re done.
The annoying Share button will remain, but at least the annoying photo is gone, and you’ve reclaimed a tad more whitespace. Check out the cleaned up version below.
Gotta say, I was expecting something else other than just uploading a plain white image as the avatar. Some kind of settings trick, or like an extension hack.
Done!
That's really not much of a solution.
Adblock Plus and NoScript.
Right click the image, and select Block This Image.
Guys, come on. It must REALLY SUCK when a commenter can come up with a better news solution than the guys you pay as writers.
Just stick an opaque piece of white paper on your monitor with double-sided tape where your profile pic shows up. Done!
Just don't have a Google account.
Just signing out would have the same result and yet be far superior because you WOULD have a google account when you needed it.
If you think your own avatar is "garish" maybe you should change it. idiot.
Wouldn't something like firefox's stylish plugin that allows you to override a sites CSS do a better job, and allow you to remove both buttons? I'd assume a similar addon exists for chrome.
The white profile picture sounds like a hack that will lead make other places look like crap.
why is every new change considered annoying... the avatar is simple and elegant, it doesn't get in your way. its done so that the entire google experience can feel complete. are you guys using an 800x600 monitor or something to be so put off by it..?
In that image the avatar and buttons are invading on the white space. Given the sparse nature of the page, it serves to draw your attention towards that position on the screen. My current page has those icons over the black bar at the top where it is a lot more subtle.
I dont think its to do with the screen real estate, if anything it's probably going to be more jarring on large screens.