INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Yahoo Tests New Homepage: Users Say ’Epic Fail’

By Karlene Trudell
Published on: 14:35 PST, Oct 23, 2014

The new Yahoo homepage is making an unexpected test appearance on thousands of users’ computers, and the response has been overwhelmingly negative.

According to Tech Crunch, Yahoo has been working through a major design overhaul for the past year or so, and has now started testing the new format.

The new homepage, which TechnoBuffalo reports is scheduled for a full-scale roll out in November, has a more modern, mobile-friendly layout. However, users who recently had the new Yahoo page “forced” on them with no warning or option to change it back to the old interface are far from happy with the changes.

The redesigned homepage no longer features the carousel bar of new and popular content, which has been replaced with a simple column of stories in the middle of the page. The left bar is a pared down navigation menu to access mail, videos, and Yahoo’s “magazines,” while the right sidebar features news from the web, original Yahoo content, and a Twitter feed. Features such as weather and games are now missing from the homepage also.

Re/code reports that users aren’t the only ones unhappy with the new format. Allegedly there has also been some internal grumbling at Yahoo because of the loss of the editor driven carousel, which means it will be harder to push content by Yahoo “stars” such as Katie Couric. Editors and sales personnel are apparently worried that the new design will impact traffic and, therefore, ad revenue.

Users’ comments on the Yahoo Feedback page range from dissatisfied to angry. Thousands of people are complaining about the new interface, especially about the carousel and sidebar links that have been removed. Many of them are threatening to switch to a different homepage.

“What a mess! Give me the old format now. Where’s my favorite teams, my local weather?”

“The MSN format that has been adopted is horrible and just a cluttered mess with no distinct way to use. The scrolling carousel of latest news was the best format out there and the reason most people used. It was user friendly, appealing, and the best overall. Go back to the old format and update the look of the stuff around the scrolling headline carousel.”

“New Page SUCKS!! Bring back the old or I’m leaving Yahoo all together. Start using Google or MSN homepage.”

“Hate, Hate, Hate the new web page!!!!! Too crowded and unorganized.”

“Thanks for the warning. New web page is totally dysfunctional.”

Now isn’t the best time for Yahoo alienate their users. The Inquisitr reported last month that the search engine giant was facing falling stock prices and legal troubles.

Maybe the page designer should have listened to the editors and sales team…

If you have the new Yahoo homepage, what do you think of it?

[Image via Tech Crunch]

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