July 17, 2006

New Yahoo Home Page Goes Live Today

Michael Arrington

63 comments »

Lots of Yahoo news today. In addition to the new Yahoo Finance site that launches later today, Yahoo is finally taking its new home page, previously in beta at yahoo.com/preview, live on the main yahoo.com site. The launch is U.S. only, other markets will follow shortly.

We’ve all know this was coming for some time. Yahoo began testing the new home page with some users back in February. In May, Yahoo made the new page available to everyone at the yahoo.com/preview domain linked to above.

The new home page has a significantly different layout than the current look, as well as some Ajax integration, DHTML and more personalization features. Other new features are discussed in a Yahoo blog post discussing the new home page on May 15, 2006. In that post, they call it “the most significant redesign of the www.yahoo.com home page ever”. Given that Yahoo is the largest site on the Internet (despite recent gains by Myspace), their embrace of new web technologies is an important evolution. Millions of people may have their first interaction with Ajax in the coming days.

See Richard MacManus for more, as well as some nonsense about a video competition that Yahoo’s putting on around this. Great scoop, Richard.

Screen shots of the new and old Yahoo pages:

New:

Old:

  • Sphere It

Trackbacks/Pings (Trackback URL)

  1. Yahoo! home page redesign goes live! - RotorBlog.com
  2. » Archivo del weblog » Yahoo, nueva portada
  3. Paul Colligan’s Profitable Podcasting » Podcasting “Can Do Betters.”
  4. Yahoo! - Nuevo diseño en Optimización para Motores de Búsqueda
  5. The all new look Yahoo! - Tech[dot]Blog - All about Computers, Smartphones and The Internet
  6. AlexOrmandyBlog · New Yahoo Home Page Goes Live Today
  7. TechCrunch Japanese アーカイブ » Yahooの新しいトップページが、今日本番スタート
  8. Loud Opinions | Blog » Blog Archive » New Yahoo Home Page Goes Live Today
  9. Big Yahoo! Update
  10. MacAddict 10.4
  11. New Yahoo Home Page Goes Live - Electronic Communications and Marketing Strategies
  12. 2006 July 17-- str1ke.us
  13. Scott Karp on the Convergence of Media and Technology
  14. Pixellore - Design. Gadgets. Life. » New Yahoo Home Page Goes Live Today
  15. Webbsnack » Yahoos nya hemsida lanserades globalt idag
  16. e-Fuze Mobile » New Yahoo! Website Goes Live
  17. Yahoo! lanza su nueva home (Ajax de pie a cabeza) at Gadmonks
  18. Ian Scott » New Yahoo Home Page Goes Live Today
  19. NPC’s Blog » New Yahoo Home Page Goes Live Today
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  21. As found on the Interweb » Yahoo Directory drops off the home page
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  23. If You’re Late to The Party, What Should You Do? | blogHelper
  24. while i was out-- str1ke.us
  25. Jeffs World » Blog Archive » links for 2006-07-18
  26. The Messaging Times
  27. The Messaging Times » Yahoo! Dips its Toe in the Water :: Online communication, interactive marketing, email, Internet, RSS, podcasting, social networks, blogs, etc.
  28. Designs » New Yahoo Home Page Goes Live Today
  29. AOL One Step Behind Again: New Home Page Identical To Yahoo
  30. RazorSharp iPods & Raw Gadgets » Blog Archive » AOL One Step Behind Again: New Home Page Identical To Yahoo
  31. Featuredbox | Yahooooo! There is a new AOL homepage!

Comments

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  1. Simran

    It’s been live at Yahoo! India for weeks now. So, that’s definitely not US only. I’m not kidding. I was very surprised to see it live on Yahoo! India, where all the cool stuff reaches last, first.

    Digg this here:
    http://digg.com/tech_news/New_.....ve_Today_2

  2. Simran

    Oh and go have a look for yourself: http://in.yahoo.com/

  3. Danny Sullivan

    It has been life at Yahoo UK for two weeks now, as well:
    http://blog.searchenginewatch......705-090227

    Glad the US finally gets to play catch-up, for once.

  4. Mathieu LESNIAK

    Same thing for Yahoo France, launched about 2 weeks ago

  5. Quetzal

    Like Danny and Simran said, it has been live in several other locations. I have noticed it in Yahoo! Mexico first (http://mx.yahoo.com/) a month ago and then in Yahoo! France 2 weeks ago (http://fr.yahoo.com/). I guess they wanted to try it out elsewhere before in the US.

  6. Sebastien

    Well, and in all europe as well at the same time as UK :-)

  7. Jonathan Mendez

    Millions will have their first interaction with Ajax.

    Millions will also be tremendously frustrated when they click on a link in the main tab section (featured, entertainment, sports, life) and instead of being taken to that story the box reloads to feature the link they just clicked on… having only to click yet again in the same box to get to the story.

  8. Dino Baskovic

    Not sure I agree with Mendez’ comment, but for many mainstream users, yes this will undoubtedly be their first taste of a partially AJAX-driven UI.

    This also marks the latest major label website to forgo 800 resolution in favor of 1024.

    Now, what I don’t get is why this still looks like a late 90s consumer portal, just with 2006-ish design. Looking at the new Netscape.com, I see some very Digg-like features. Is Yahoo! holding back on Web 2.0 for a reason, or do they feel consumers just aren’t ready? Thoughts?

  9. Troy

    Typo: Given that Yahoo is the larget site on the Internet! Mikey along with reviewing such robust apps, make sure you’re using the latest word processor ;) … With over 70,000+ readers, should be taken seriously dude!

  10. Jay Adair

    I like it, it’s simple, fast and interacts well. It feels like a nice step away from cold corporate, to a slightly more funky outlook.

  11. Victor Rottenstein

    Hi,
    Does anybody know when this new home will be available for Latin America region?

    Regards
    Victor.

  12. Josh

    Maybe I set something without knowing it, but I have been seeing the new homepage at yahoo.com as the default since the preview launched weeks ago. To my knowledge I never set anything asking Yahoo to make the switch for me…

  13. Justin

    I have been using the new homepage since the preview came out a few months back. I very rarely use Yahoo! for anything besides their sports page but I do appreciate the sites new look and feel. I particularly like the use of AJAX in the top right navigation box - if I used any of those Yahoo! services this would be a major plus.

  14. dimas

    In Spain it was also launched a few weeks ago. I´m not sure if I like it or maybe I just need to get used to it as I don´t find the elements where they were. However, I think that changing only the homepage does not make sense because other sections looks poor.

  15. Darren McLaughlin

    I’ve been using it for a few weeks. It’s really grown on me.

  16. Josh

    I like that they killed the menu across the top, that was very out dated and well just plain looked ugly…

    josh
    http://windowsconnected.com

  17. Villa

    Hi,

    This is a step forward, I also hear the admin backend of this is awesome and I’m sure will save the whole web team hours when updated and editing info.

    http://www.GoVista.org

  18. massysett

    Most interesting to me is that Yahoo has completely parted with its roots as a Web directory. Remember the Yahoo of several years ago, when the directory was the main feature of the page? A few little icons–like Mail and Random (remember the little die?) were at the top, but below that it was all directory. Then the last redesign took the directory and demoted it to that little box at the bottom of the page. Now there’s no directory at all–not even a link to the directory in those links on the left hand side of the page! There’s just a “Directory” search option for the search box. It symbolizes how much search has changed the way people find information on the Web–no more picking through directories; just search for it. Plus, it shows how much Yahoo has changed from a directory site to a “portal” with a whole bunch of non-related things. I don’t even use the Yahoo directory or its search, but I regularly use Yahoo News.

    Meanwhile, Google is straying from its roots too. Now the home page is cluttered with all sorts of non-search items. Thus, if Yahoo is any indicator, one day the Google search box will be at the bottom of the Google homepage, then it will vanish altogether!

  19. SAFFE

    Fantastic! It looks a lot less cluttered with random information

  20. Jim

    This weird, no pictures are showing…. I’m using the latest Firefox. Anybody else have this-In Opera and IE it displays right, weird.

  21. Keith

    I find that it is only the main front page that Yahoo got its new look. The remaining search category, such as images, or videos, still have the same old look.

  22. JoelM

    ahh… Im not a big fan of yahoo.. I don’t know if it is just me but it seems too ‘fat’.

  23. Webmetricsguru

    I think the Ajax is pretty cool and I did a write up for the new Yahoo look at http://www.webmetricsguru.com/....._live.html

  24. macewan

    looks like ass on the 770

  25. Duncan

    Mike
    “The launch is U.S. only, other markets will follow shortly…” WTF? this is the template design from Yahoo Australia (yahoo7.com.au) which has been live for the better part of this year….indeed, if it is indeed new, then it happened here first…and its now being rolled out to the States!

  26. Vic

    So, it seems that we wont be having a yahoo fresh look in LATAM region.. lol…

    Thanks
    Vic

  27. Mahesh Babu

    Looks somewhat like http://www.aol.com portal page???.

  28. Michael

    Yeah once that somebody makes a change, everyone flocks afterwards. Why does all the new designs look very similar(at least to me)?

    http://www.businessweek.com
    aol - mentioned above by Mahesh

  29. Peter

    Hi all

    Can anyone explain to me

    1/ The differance between an html web site and a blog?
    2/ Just what is RSS feed?

    Thanks Peter
    http://www.moneydredger.com

  30. Porek

    Paint Brushes

  31. ATUL PATEL

    No Comment

  32. Tony Perrie

    Lynx will not render this site.