Yahoo to launch a new hompage format today.

Stefanie Berliant
Media Coordinator

With the launch of Microsoft’s search engine, Bing, Google continuing to dominate the world along with Facebook and Twitter, Yahoo has decided in order to keep up with the Joneses, they should give their homepage a makeover.

This redesign has been in the works for a while and was scheduled to be released in the fall of 2009.  But as luck (aka overtime) would have it, the new look will be revealed today.  Forgive me for my lack of excitement; I feel that redesigning a website is about the least innovative thing a company as powerful as Yahoo could do.

But maybe I am speaking too soon.  What Yahoo has in store with this redesign is to make it an "internet gateway," retooling the left hand navigation bar to allow for widgets and apps like Facebook.  The user can mouse over these plug-ins and access these apps without leaving Yahoo.com.  And of course, the new look would not be complete without a contextual ad unit within the expandable window.  This feature can also be synched with mobile devices.

Yes, Yahoo’s current homepage is not the prettiest to look at; I would agree that a makeover is much needed.  But will it give Yahoo the boost they are looking for?  Doubt it.