[Update: Google has changed the default back to no background image] Last week, Google enabled an interesting feature: custom backgrounds for its search page. Now the feature is available internationally, and to highlight it, Google collaborated with several well-known artists who've created a gallery of background images that will be featured on the Google homepage over the next 24 hours.
Unfortunately, the feature comes with a somewhat bizarre catch: You cannot turn the background images off -- at least on certain Google search pages. For example, when I open my localized Google search page -- www.google.hr -- I'm greeted by a colorful field of flowers. I can change the image by clicking on the link in the lower-left corner, but there's no option to completely turn it off.
For many users, this is quite annoying; as you can see from this Twitter search, hundreds of users are trying to find a way to get rid of the feature and restore Google's traditional white background.
There are a couple of tricks to get rid of the image; for example, you can try clicking on this link or you can use Google SSL (currently in beta), which works pretty much the same as regular Google. You can also choose the color white as the background, available from Google's editorial choice of images. Most importantly, Google's backgrounds will be rotated only today, after which (we hope) all will be restored to normal, and users will be able to set a custom homepage only if they choose to.