Users of Google Docs were welcomed to a new, and in my opinion, much more usable interface today. The concept of Labels (aka Tags) has been replaced with Folders, much like what people are accustomed to on their Windows Explorer desktop.

The folders are unfortunately not hierarchical, but do provide better at-a-glance document categorization via a new left navigation pane.

This change is a significant return to what simply works. In past years we've seen several document management solutions emerge based around the concept of "folksonomy" tagging, whereby users tag documents rather than categorize them in folders.

This has the supposed benefit of making life easier on search engines, but with the downside of poor data quality. For example, I might tag a document as "Television" where you might prefer "TV".

Our own document management system in i-Dialogue has organically evolved to a hybrid, or compromised design. While we have added meta-tagging, customers still express a need to hierarchically categorize documents as a reflection of their own internal structures, such as org charts and sales territories. For example, why "search" for case studies in Canada when I can expand a "North America" folder to reveal a "Canada" folder with marketing materials.

I must admit I was somewhat disappointed after Salesforce.com's acquisition of Koral and announced mission to impose folksonomy tagging in the workplace. As Google's recent move validates, not all consumer web UI metaphors translate well to the business web.

The left navigation includes a filter by document type, indicating a very scalable point of extension. I would not be surprised to see support for PowerPoint and other documents in the very near future.