Yahoo! launches new homepage

Internet portal Yahoo! is preparing a simplified version of its homepage in a bid to boost its advertising revenues.

The new site features larger text, and loses the ad banner at the top of the screen. The content, colour scheme, font and logos remain largely unchanged.

The only display advertising on the new page is the central box, currently devoted to the Fifa World Cup promotion.

The new page sticks to the Yahoo! design philosophy of simplicity and fast downloading. In some ways it's a return to basics, tidying up a page that has grown increasingly cluttered over time.

In a nod to increasing processor and connection speeds, however, the site's logo and graphics appear to be higher resolution.

Yahoo's last major redesign was in 1995, when the site adopted a two-column format and added the Yahoo! logo instead of a plain text headline. This was also when the famous exclamation mark first appeared!

Have a look at the new site at http://www.yahoo.com/beta.html