Yahoo unveils major new redesign

Set your new Yahoo homepage to 'fun' or 'serious' depending on how you feel that day!
Set your new Yahoo homepage to 'fun' or 'serious' depending on how you feel that day!

Yahoo has launched its new-look home page in the US, with the company set to roll-out its new site in the UK and Europe later this week.

Yahoo has one major objective, which has driven all aspects of the redesign. It (still) wants to be the main portal to the web for the highest number of web-users worldwide.

Yahoo users can now link through to third parties like Google and Twitter far easier and quicker and in fewer clicks than they could before.

"We want to be at the centre of people's lives online," explained Yahoo's consumer experiences head Tapan Bhat.

"There is a destination for everything you are about in just a click or two. Now we are looking at Yahoo holistically, all centred around the user," Mr Bhat explained in a media conference call.

Radical fundamentalism

Yahoo claims the redesign is the most "radical" and "fundamental" rejig of the site since it launched a decade ago.

"Yahoo has been losing ground as a gateway to the web with individual services ranging from Google to Facebook to Twitter," Business Week's Rob Hof explained to the BBC.

"So a home page that can connect them in one fell swoop to those services is its only hope to maintain its status as a key starting point on the internet - and one of the few places online where advertisers can reach a TV-sized audience."

Around 570 million people visit Yahoo every month. Speculation over an announcement of a deal with Microsoft related to search and advertising is mounting.

Yahoo users can also customize their web-experience with widgets and third-party web apps. The company is also promising improved synchronization between mobile and desktop versions of Yahoo.

Another cool tool, outlined by TechCrunch is called Customizable Content and lets users dial "how "fun" or "serious" you like your news… Want hard core serious stuff? Pull the slider to the right. Fluffy fun stuff to the left. Leave it in the middle for a mix. User testing for this product begins in August, says Yahoo."

Via BBC and TechCrunch.

Adam Hartley