Yahoo.com Gets a Facelift

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Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has introduced a new design for Yahoo’s homepage. The biggest change is an infinitely scrolling newsfeed that is similar to Facebook’s design.

Bloomberg BusinessWeek’s Brad Stone reported, “Yahoo may be one of the Internet’s most beleaguered companies, but Yahoo.com, its primary landing page, remains one of the Web’s most trafficked sites. It had 119 million monthly visitors in January, up 9 percent from a year earlier, according to ComScore (SCOR). Now, Yahoo! (YHOO) Chief Executive Marissa Mayer is giving her company’s crown jewel a radical polish. The revamped Yahoo.com, which goes live on Wednesday morning, represents Mayer’s boldest attempt yet to remake and update the Web giant she took over last July. Most visibly, the redesign draws on a key element of Facebook (FB) and Twitter, introducing a ‘news feed’ of live, endlessly scrollable content, which includes news stories, videos, and messages from advertisers. Users who sign in with both their Yahoo and Facebook credentials will see news stories tailored to their particular interests and indications of which articles their friends liked.”

CNET’s Don Reisinger noted, “The focal point of the design is news. Users can head to the page and customize what’s displayed based on their interests. If they prefer sports or entertainment information, for example, they can choose to see only news items related to those topics in the page’s feed.”

PCMag quotes Mayer, who blogged, “Because you come to Yahoo everyday for must-know information, we’ve also introduced newly designed applications. From your local weather forecast to Facebook friends’ birthdays, you’ll always have the information you need. We’ve also refreshed some of what you love most – including our Yahoo editorial features, and the daily snapshot into popular trending web searches.”

Mashable’s Stan Schroeder commented, “The new design, which also extends to the mobile versions of the site, is not a dramatic overhaul by any means. The main menu of Yahoo’s many services still sits in the upper left corner of the homepage, and a large part of screen real estate above the fold is taken over by a carousel that shows currently breaking news.”