Yahoo appears to be testing a new home page design. Techno-Net captured it on a video and posted that video on YouTube for all to see. Here are the changes I noticed in this new design test: Cleaner User Interface Search Bar Sticks At The Top Left Menu Bar Is Static Remove Story Blocks In One Click Top News Image More Fluid In Transitions Of Stories Middle Content Section Scrolls Middle Content Section Has News Filters Marissa Mayer is very into user interface design and we are expecting a change to the Yahoo home page. Here is that video: [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Yahoo: User Interface

Search launches seem to come in threes. A couple of weeks ago we had Bing Social, then came Google with Knowledge Graph and now Yahoo introduces Axis. When I met with Yahoo earlier this week to hear about it I received the now familiar speech that Yahoo is still very much in search and continuing to "innovate" around the UI and UX. There have been some interesting efforts along those lines on the PC in the past (Yahoo Search Direct), but Axis actually is genuinely different and noteworthy. Three screen experience Axis is available for all three screens: PC (as a browser plug-in), the i [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Top News | Yahoo | Yahoo Search Direct | Yahoo: Search | Yahoo: User Interface

After handing over its core search results to Bing in the summer of 2010, Yahoo promised that it would continue to try new things related to its search interface. One of those new ideas is a feature that would let Yahoo users begin a search on one device -- a desktop computer, for example -- and continue to use/interact with the search on a different device, like a tablet or laptop computer. In an interview with MediaPost, Shashi Seth, Yahoo's Senior VP of Search and Marketplaces, explains this search-across-devices idea. Here's how MediaPost describes it: Yahoo has begun to test th [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Yahoo: Search | Yahoo: User Interface

Yahoo is rolling out a couple new search experiences that are aimed squarely at holiday searchers: recipes and shopping. Prior to tonight's new display, a search for "apple recipes" would include the standard algorithmic results (i.e., 10 blue links) along with a small shortcut at the top of the search results pointing searchers to recipes on shine.yahoo.com, Yahoo's lifestyle content site for women. Now, the Yahoo.com search results offer a much richer experience. The new content includes (1) a slider with top-rated recipes from AllRecipes.com and other sources; (2) a Filter by [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Retail | Top News | Yahoo: Search | Yahoo: Shopping | Yahoo: User Interface

Yahoo is making a big push today for its new local search (edit: see below) interface, which offers a somewhat dramatic change both in the content it includes and how it's presented. Greg Sterling actually covered most of this a couple weeks ago here on SEL, but here's a quick recap: The new desktop beta offers a stream-like display of local news, deals, events, and other content that comes from Yahoo editors, local websites and blogs, and community members contributing directly to Yahoo Local. A lot of that content is new to Yahoo Local; some of it expands on Yahoo's recent focus on De [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Top News | Yahoo: Maps & Local | Yahoo: Mobile & Go | Yahoo: User Interface

Users of Yahoo's mobile web search site (http://m.yahoo.com) on smartphones should notice new enhancements and expanded search results the next time they search using certain types of queries. Yahoo has announced changes to how it shows search results for local business listings, entertainment, stocks, videos, and images on smartphones. Yahoo says it's "pulling more essential information from the web, and employing the latest HTML5 technology to help you easily browse the content you're interested in." A search for Brett Favre, for example, shows how the search results have expanded. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Yahoo: Mobile & Go | Yahoo: User Interface

There are a number of critical articles, even complaints, coming out of yesterday's Yahoo press event featuring new Chief Product Officer Blake Irving. The main portion of the event had Irving and CTO Raymie Strata discussing Yahoo strategy and reiterating that Yahoo wasn't simply a media company but a company with deep technology as well. Some of the informal comments and conversations that immediately followed the 90-minute discussion were along the lines of "We've heard this before, what's new?" or "Where's the vision?" During the Q&A portion of the session Irving stumbled a bit w [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Strategy | Top News | Yahoo: General | Yahoo: Mail | Yahoo: Search | Yahoo: Search Ads | Yahoo: SmartAds | Yahoo: User Interface

If you thought instant search suggestions and results was fun, get a load of this: At Yahoo Taiwan and Yahoo Hong Kong, searchers can handwrite their search queries and Yahoo will try to match the handwriting to letters, and then show suggested searches. It's all described in this Yahoo blog post, complete with screenshots showing how users can begin their search by using a "handwriting panel" next to the search button. Yahoo says that's the Chinese language character for the first letter of Lady Gaga's name. To the left of what the user has drawn, Yahoo shows six possible character [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Search Features: Query Refinement | Yahoo: Outside US | Yahoo: Search | Yahoo: User Interface

Though late to the Android party Yahoo has released Search, Mail and Messenger for Android. I downloaded Mail and Messenger -- by using a 2d barcode scanner in my EVO off my iPad screen -- but was unable to open Search to test-drive it before writing this. (See postscript below.) Yahoo has also improved its mobile web experiences for the iPhone and iPod Touch via HTML5. Users can add Yahoo search to the home screen (as an Android Widget). It's also voice-enabled. It's not clear to me whether that voice search capability is provided by partner Vlingo (in which Yahoo is an investor) or [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Google: Mobile | Yahoo: Mobile & Go | Yahoo: User Interface

Building on its previous travel and music search refinements, Yahoo has now announced new refinements for TV shows and actors. The new feature acts similarly to what Yahoo's done in the other verticals. Now, when using Yahoo Video Search to find TV shows, searchers will get a series of refinements in the left-side column that offer deeper searches for specific characters, popular episodes, and seasons. Here's the screenshot of a search for How I Met Your Mother: The second refiner deals with searches for popular film actors. The video results page will now show links to clips from an [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Video | Yahoo: User Interface | Yahoo: Video

Yahoo has announced a new set of features for its Search Assist service that makes the Yahoo search box a lot smarter. Perhaps the main innovation here is the inclusion of content and information right inside the Search Assist dropdown. For example, do a search for a company's stock symbol, and Yahoo will show real-time stock prices and a couple related links before you even execute the search. Yahoo says similar features are available for queries related to sports, travel, and movies. Search Assist can now also help users reach other Yahoo properties more quickly. For certain qu [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Search Features: Shortcuts | Yahoo: Search | Yahoo: Shortcuts | Yahoo: User Interface

Try as they might Yahoo is having a tough time convincing people that it's still "in search." On Yahoo's earnings call earlier this week CFO Tim Morse, who led the call because CEO Carol Bartz was ill, used her analogy to describe Yahoo's new way of positioning itself around search: The next revolution isn’t with the algorithms that provide results, it’s in creating a better, more personally relevant search experience. This is where we’ll differentiate ourselves and compete vigorously without the billions required to keep up in the arms race that generating search results has become. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Web Search | Microsoft: Bing | Top News | Yahoo: Business Issues | Yahoo: Search | Yahoo: User Interface

Yahoo has now gone live with its new search format. There's nothing radical or "game changing." However, there are some nice upgrades and improvements. Most prominently, it features a new left column that allows users to filter results by Search Monkey content providers or refine by related concepts. It also features more prominent placement for Search Pad and an expansion of Search Assist. Yahoo says it has also improved image and video search and says speed and performance are better across the board. Yahoo previewed these new features previously and Danny discussed them at some length in [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Microsoft: Bing | Top News | Yahoo: Search | Yahoo: Search Monkey | Yahoo: User Interface

Is it possible that, say a couple years from now, you might visit Yahoo.com and its Bing-powered search engine, but actually search Google, instead? It seems so. PaidContent reports on Yahoo's appearance Wednesday at the 2009 Deutsche Bank Technology Conference, where Burke Colligan, a senior director for Yahoo Front Doors -- the company's user experience group -- said it's possible the company may someday allow Yahoo users the choice to search a different search engine from the Yahoo home page. "Right now, we're not doing that but long-term that may not be out of the question. We want t [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Google: Web Search | Microsoft: Bing | Yahoo: Search | Yahoo: User Interface

During the Yahoo-Microsoft conference call with CEOs Bartz and Ballmer and subsequent discussion with Microsoft's Yusuf Mehdi and Yahoo's Hilary Schneider we heard repeatedly that although the two engines would share a single index and Microsoft would incorporate elements of Yahoo Search (e.g., Search Monkey) into Bing, Yahoo would continue to be different and vital in search. Freed from the cost ($425 million reportedly) and ongoing demands of the back end, it would "innovate" around the interface and search user experience. Many people in the industry were skeptical and  shrugged it o [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Microsoft: Bing | Microsoft: Business Issues | Microsoft: General | Yahoo: Business Issues | Yahoo: Employees | Yahoo: Search | Yahoo: Search Monkey | Yahoo: User Interface

A sign of things to come, perhaps? Based on this screenshot posted today on Flickr, Yahoo appears to be testing a new layout for its search results pages. It looks very much like the new Yahoo homepage that launched a couple weeks ago, which suggests this may be soon become the default layout for Yahoo's search results pages. The Yahoo logo, which appears in red and on the right side of the current search results page, is in purple and moved to the left here. The SearchPad feature is also moved from right to left. This new layout also mimics Bing slightly, with the list of "Related Con [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Yahoo: Search | Yahoo: User Interface

When I heard about the call with Yahoo yesterday, which was to feature "a significant announcement," I thought: "Bing, here it is." When it turned out the call was about a formal announcement of the new Yahoo homepage I was disappointed; it seemed anti-climactic. The existence of a forthcoming Yahoo homepage redesign has been known for months and screenshots of earlier versions have been seen previously in several places online. However, the new Yahoo homepage, which launches around 4:30 Eastern today, turns out to be both interesting and practical. The embargo was broken yesterday so immed [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Top News | Yahoo: General | Yahoo: Search | Yahoo: Search Monkey | Yahoo: User Interface

If Microsoft brings "boatloads of money and the right technology," Yahoo would be willing to strike a long-rumored search deal. So said Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz at the D7 Conference today, where All Things Digital's Kara Swisher interviewed her on stage. Bartz followed up that statement by saying Microsoft would need "biiiig boatloads of money" if it wanted to buy Yahoo entirely. That's just one of the headlines coming out of Bartz's appearance, but certainly not the only one. According to coverage from Barron's, the Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, and All Things D here are other highlights: [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Features: Analysis | Microsoft: Business Issues | Top News | Yahoo: Business Issues | Yahoo: Employees | Yahoo: Search | Yahoo: User Interface

Yahoo continues to develop a new home page, and today has shared a sneak-peek at the latest design that's being tested internally. The "My Favorites" column on the left side of the page seems to be where the big changes are happening. Yahoo currently lists more than a dozen of its own properties in this space, but the new home page will feature a dashboard of sorts that users can customize with many of their favorites sites -- including non-Yahoo sites like eBay or the Wall Street Journal. Users can also keep track of their friends social activities via a new Yahoo Updates app. And if [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Yahoo: Search | Yahoo: User Interface

There are arguably two parallel tracks in the "what will succeed Google?" meme. An emerging one is "will the feds intervene to block Google?" The second is much older and involves the hypothetical "semantic web" or sometimes "deep web." Essentially this asks, "who will do search better than Google?" (A third line of argument might surround "social search.") Two pieces in two days in the NY Times reflect the two former strands. The first article is Everyone Loves Google, Until It’s Too Big and picks up on the monopoly discussion. I responded over the weekend on my personal blog Screenwerk. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Features: Analysis | Google: General | Google: Legal | Google: Other | Microsoft: Bing | Microsoft: Other Search | Search Engines: Powerset | Search Engines: Social Search Engines | Top News | Yahoo: Search | Yahoo: User Interface