[teye]

Not surprising at all. Conventional layout wisdom says give the eye a clear path in a direction it knows.

A multi-dimensional grid takes you in a Z shape, whereas a vertical lineup's images and text are all aligned and easier to distinguish.

[westiseast]

I guess it was surprising for a bozo like me :)

I think I'd overestimated "pretty" and underestimated "functional" in this case, so the results were a wakeup.

[baddox]

I was surprised that the author was assuming everyone would guess the grid view would do better. It seems completely obvious to me that a list view is better.

[epo]

I am surprised you would assume that everyone would think like you.