Just my opinion, but, not much about the changes I would consider improvements.
They did go from squares to circles...
Over the years I have noticed a few things.
Websites seem to go through 3 major stages.
Stage One: Cluttered, crazy, but the info is there. No ads
Stage Two: Organized, simple, intuitive, informative. A few ads.
Stage Three: Cutesy, cluttered, crazy, and the info is hard to find. All ads.
You might like this.
See Earthquakes WORLDWIDE, all at the same time.
Zoom in and out.
Control surface features shown.
Spin the planet round as fast as you want, or turn it upside down.
Control the MAG and AGE of EARTHQUAKES shown.
See the PATTERN of EQ activity like you NEVER COULD on USGS maps.
The PROGRAM is around 1 MB. Takes about 2 seconds to download.
It runs from your desktop, not your btowser.
It is AWESOME.
IT IS FREE.
EARTHQUAKE 3D
http://www.wolton.net/quake.html