Yahoo.com released a new permutation of its homepage on Wednesday, Feb. 20. This is the first time the information site has done so in four years.
Despite criticism from many who see Yahoo as an archaic vestige from the days of AOL IM or CompuServe, the site continues to boast more than 700 million visitors, who come to the site to read about everything from sports to political news to the latest entertainment gossip.
Part of the problem, opines The New York Times, is that as a "sort of sad reflection of the company," Yahoo has in the past resembled a "jazzed-up Craigslist of sorts," being "cluttered with low-quality ads and irrelevant content" that in no way represents a site that remains one of the most visited on the Web.
With Marissa Mayer now in the CEO chair at Yahoo, concision has become key. Mayer, who assumed the leadership position in July 2012, was an executive at Google and remains widely credited as the person who gave Google's own search engine its "simple look."
"We're introducing a new way to welcome people to Yahoo," said Mayer. She goes on to say on Yahoo's official company blog that she hopes the site will be "more intuitive and personal" for visitors.
New features of the redesign include:
- No more low-quality ads
- Addition of an infinite, Twitter-esque news feed and stream of content recommended by users' Facebook friends
- A simpler way to share information glommed from the main page to Twitter and Facebook
- Prominence given to the most popular Yahoo components, such as Yahoo Sports and Yahoo Finance
The redesign of Yahoo's home page is the third significant alteration Mayer has introduced since taking up her post as CEO. In December 2012, Mayer also redesigned Yahoo's email service and photo-sharing service Flickr.
These changes, Mayer told the Times, will be the "first of many releases," with the CEO ready to turn her sights on "a dozen or more Yahoo products."
Some of the early feedback on the simpler Yahoo mainpage design:
@KaitlynMcB took to Twitter to explain: "they changed the #Yahoohomepage... I don't know what to do with myself."
@bzzagentjono notes that while the front page is definitely "more personalized and interactive," it's also "super purple-y" (true).
@slangwise tweets "Come on, admit it. You're kinda rooting for the new and improved #Yahoo."
But is everyone?
WebProNews commenter Mark W. Thompson wasn't rooting for the site even after the upcoming change was announced in October 2012. "This was a DUMB ASS Idea," writes Thompson. "Keep this s*** up and you'll find a lot of people boycotting yahoo and looking elsewhere."
With many users/commenters admitting they would "never even use Yahoo" anyway, Neowin.net commenter Coi debunked the notion the new site would look like Windows 8 in November 2012, when he wrote, "It doesn't really look like Windows 8 that much, and I don't even like it :\"
What do you think about the new Yahoo page? Take a look and judge for yourself.
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