yahoo! site design

**mh8759** · Apr 4, 2001, 15:52

Hi,

I just want to ask all of you what do you think about Yahoo! website and it's design?

In my opinion, the site should be designed better AND it should be placed under a major redesign since the Yahoo! website is the same from the very beginning. They did make some changes sure, but not enough to change the look of the site.

I don't believe they should stick to original design, even if there are millions of people who are familiar with it. It is just too simple.

Mare

**Justin Sampson** · Apr 4, 2001, 16:07

It's their trademark. When you think of simple fast loading, cross browser, design what do you think of? Yahoo!

If they were to change it they would lose a lot of there users on slow connections, which are there main target.

BC · Apr 4, 2001, 17:22

Have a think about it : what is the purpose of Yahoo! ?

To search for relevant sites.

Is a fancy, better design going to help improve the search?

No. People are using Yahoo! for looking for other sites, not to go there and go 'ooooh' and 'aaahhh' about its design.

If there's one thing I'll give Yahoo! (having worked in an indirect capacity with them for a while) I'll give them this : they know what users want and they give them precisely what they want. A decent search engine.

As for a 'stale' design, the fact it hasn't changed much is due to the 'familiarity' factor for its visitors - they prefer it to be the same, and if any changes were made they'd have to learn a new system.

End of story.

**dominique** · Apr 4, 2001, 17:52

There's only one thing they should change, or rather add: a background color statement in their body so that Yahoo! doesn't always show up grey in Netscape!

**wdmny** · Apr 4, 2001, 18:17

Yahoo is designed for speed, performance, and compatability. And that is why they have not set a background color. Check it on a text browser, its a sure bet that it looks exactly the same just w/o images. Look at how fast it loads. Yahoo also leaves the links to standard colors I think. The reason it is grey is because you have your default background color set to grey. If you don't like the grey, change it to white. Yahoo! is actually a good example of a well designed, compatible, corporate site.

**Umair.ms** · Apr 4, 2001, 20:06

Yahoo!'s design is a trendsetter, atleast I think so.

Yahoo! was the first of it's own kind, a web directory. The only thing I like about Yahoo! is its design, nothing else. It is so easy to navigate through the web site. And you always know where you can find what you are looking for (I am not talking about the web site's, 'coz ODP's directory organization is MUCH MUCH better).

MOST newbies, my personal experiences is that ALL the newbies learn Internet by visiting two websites. Yahoo! and Hotmail.com. Why Yahoo? Simple, because they've heard two much about it. And if, yahoo has the habit of changing it's design (like Altavista), I am sure most of the newbies would have got confused.

Imagine why are Microsoft and Yahoo at the top? Because they target newbies. Less technically minded people, who expect things to be at the same place where there friends refer to.

Whatever, think for yourself. Yahoo is NOT targetted for you, atleast most of it, it's for the newbies OR non-technical people.

**creole** · Apr 5, 2001, 06:32

Yahoo is mot definitely NOT a trendsetter in the design category! They might be one in "content and layout" but their design sucks!

Now, I understand their purpose and they do accomplish that, however, EVERYTHING should be beautiful. Here is a quote:

When I am working on a problem, I never think about beauty. I only think about how to solve the problem. But when I have, if the solution is not beautiful, then I know it is wrong.

--- Buckminster Fuller

**dominique** · Apr 5, 2001, 06:36

Originally posted by Wes DeMoney
Yahoo is designed for speed, performance, and compatability. And that is why they have not set a background color. Check it on a text browser, its a sure bet that it looks exactly the same just w/o images. Look at how fast it loads. Yahoo also leaves the links to standard colors I think. The reason it is grey is because you have your default background color set to grey. If you don't like the grey, change it to white. Yahoo! is actually a good example of a well designed, compatible, corporate site.

Adding a background color statement won't affect the speed with which it loads all that much, one or two milliseconds at the most, and the file size is barely any larger.

I did change my default to white, but that doesn't always work for some reason... Besides, I usually use Internet Explorer. It's when I'm at school and have no choice but to use Netscape that it gets annoying, Yahoo! is so hard to read with a grey background.

**scrubz** · Apr 5, 2001, 06:47

BC pretty much summed it up. Yahoo is a search engine after all and it's purpose is serving information quickly and keeping it well organized. I for one don't want to sit and wait for a bloated page to load just to do a search and move on to another site. Google's page is even more sparse and "boring", and I like it that way.

**gthorley** · Apr 5, 2001, 06:51

Originally posted by dominique
I did change my default to white, but that doesn't always work for some reason... Besides, I usually use Internet Explorer. It's when I'm at school and have no choice but to use Netscape that it gets annoying, Yahoo! is so hard to read with a grey background.

On my version of NS 4.7 Yahoo comes with a white background and I don't recall ever changing anything?

**zebz** · Apr 5, 2001, 06:55

yahoo shouldn't change their design. altavista did a big change recently and it has been quite a shock even for me, who consider myself as an experienced surfer

however i'm not too sure that having all their sites deisgned exactly the same way is good. i liked egroups' old design but yahoo came and turned it into the exact same design and it doesn't work as well as it did. trying to have all their site look the same is maybe not the best idea. at least msn use different design for their network site.

zEBz

**S.K** · Apr 5, 2001, 06:58

Gray background is not to be blamed on Netscape.
Itz your settings, as wes has pointed out.
Some people, like in schools set the default bg to gray to reduce ram usage.
Regarding Yahoo site design, it is a bench mark for simple, fast-loading, functional design. Black over white gives a facade of elegance; add bg color or an mage, and you lose the pre-eminent status - you seem flippant and ordinary. After all the colossus must stand out in the croud.
To quote a Webmonkey article on the subject:

"Constraint breeds creativity. ... You can do great things with virtually no bytes at all! ......All the bells and whistles in the world can't replace a well considered and designed site. And a well designed site is one that reaches its audience, whatever its connection speed."

My 2 cents' worth!
Cheers!

**Umair.ms** · Apr 5, 2001, 07:03

Who says Yahoo! is a search engine?

Yahoo! isn't a web directory either. It's badly categorized structure and Sponsored listing has ruined up everything. But still I feel it's design is good. A fine example of tight html coding.

**Skunk** · Apr 5, 2001, 07:03

How does setting the background to grey reduce RAM usage?

As far as Yahoo goes, I say "if it aint broke don't fix it" - I've almost completely stopped using altavista since the redesign because it just isn't as fast and intuitive.

Google is the ULTIMATE example of a design for the user. It even has an onLoad javascript that transfers your cursor straight to the search box once the page has loaded, saving you from clicking there yourself

**S.K** · Apr 5, 2001, 07:05

Originally posted by scrubz
BC pretty much summed it up. Yahoo is a search engine

Can I call it a Directory, to be precise!

Google's page is even more sparse and "boring", and I like it that way.

Yes. A gif showing Google, a form and a button! And you get the search result in a nano-jiffy! The surfer is served!
Brevity is the soul of wit!
Cheers!

**creole** · Apr 5, 2001, 08:01

Originally posted by scrubz
BC pretty much summed it up. Yahoo is a search engine after all and it's purpose is serving information quickly and keeping it well organized. I for one don't want to sit and wait for a bloated page to load just to do a search and move on to another site. Google's page is even more sparse and "boring", and I like it that way.

yes, but at least google.com LOOKS appealing. It might be simple, but simple does not necessarily euqte to boring.

**freakysid** · Apr 5, 2001, 08:20

Yahoo is way behind the times. The solution - flash! Yep, they need some hip eye candy. A bit of background music wouldn't go astray. And some neat sound effects when you mouse over links - that would be cool. And when you click on a link it shouldn't just load the page - how about some random transitions and MORE SOUND EFFECTS! Yeah!

**iFroggy** · Apr 5, 2001, 08:50

Well, I think Yahoo! is doing right. They can carry someone that knows what their doing on computers (like me and you

) and people that are new to computers at the same time.

It is simple, fast loading, which basically makes it work for everyone in a few seconds and then they are number one in content, I've always said that you can spend every day at Yahoo! and never get board and I believe it.

**mmj** · Apr 5, 2001, 10:58

mh8759, I don't agree with your viewpoint.

What is wrong with a directory site that is "too simple"

It seems like simplicity is exactly what is required for a quick-loading, easy to use, highly functional website.

Yahoo is the most visited site on the web and that is for a good reason. We could all learn a lot from its design.

Additionally, I don't think that a site should be redesigned just because it hasn't changed for a long time. When a site is redesigned, all of the visitors suddenly become confused and a number of them stop visiting the site, because they don't like the new design. They have become used to using the existing design.

creole, I also disagree with your assertions about beauty on the web.

I think that the design of Yahoo is great. For the purpose of the site, the design is highly suitable, and I feel that graphical navigation, or pretty images, would only take attention away from the main aim of the site - to get people where they want to go (or where sponsors have paid them to go).

S.K's comparison with Google is quite valid, in my opinion. 95% of the time on Google, I just want to search for something.

freakysid - as usual you have added personality and class to this thread. Your sarcasm is well appreciated by this particular sitepointforums user. I can imagine myself logging on to Yahoo! next week to check something, and being bombarded by the message

The Yahoo website requires the Flash plugin. If you have the plugin, click on this animated graphic to load the navigation system in a popup window. If you do not have Flash, click on the animated graphic below the adjacent animated graphic to open up the Macromedia website in a popup window.

**creole** · Apr 5, 2001, 12:02

Originally posted by mmj
...Yahoo is the most visited site on the web and that is for a good reason. We could all learn a lot from its design.

the only reason it is the most visited is because people (the general public) are lemmings. THey use it because that is what they have always used and don't know any better.

Originally posted by mmj
creole, I also disagree with your assertions about beauty on the web.

I think that the design of Yahoo is great. For the purpose of the site, the design is highly suitable, and I feel that graphical navigation, or pretty images, would only take attention away from the main aim of the site - to get people where they want to go (or where sponsors have paid them to go).

You are confusing my words mmj. I didn't say it had to be flashy, or have pretty images. It just has to be beautiful. I can find beauty in a website that simply has one block of white on one side and a block or black on the other.

Beauty is in being artistic, in taking time to design something that is functional, yet attractive. Why do you think Herman Miller furniture is so expensive, yet so popular? Because it is functional AND beautiful.

I don't have to have flash and glitz to impress my users, simply the desire to design a well thought out site which is also appealing visually.

**mmj** · Apr 5, 2001, 12:42

I understand creole, and I apologise for using the term "pretty images".

I understand what a beautiful website is, and I know that Yahoo is rather plain.

It is of my opinion, though, that Yahoo doesn't need any more design considerations. It could have them, but it doesn't need them. It works really well how it is.

It is because of this that my opinion is also that further design would only

Edit:

risk

taking attention (or bandwidth) away from the aim of the site.

**creole** · Apr 5, 2001, 14:12

hey now...no apology needed. I know that you were just stating your opinion, and I don't take offense at your words so don't worry about it.

I wasm however, also stating my opinion and you know what they say about opinions...

BC · Apr 5, 2001, 17:25

Technically Yahoo! is a directory, yes, but for our 'lemmings' it's a search engine to them

And remember this : Yahoo!'s no longer strictly a directory - if they don't find results in their own directory databases then they branch out to using the Google/Inktomi engines for their search results. (they used to use Altavista for their results before they signed a new partnership agreement with Inktomi)

Put it this way : Yahoo! knows their audience, and they give them what they want. A familiar place to come back to and help them find what they want. That's why it's so popularly trafficked. Millions of searches per day can't be wrong, right?

**S.K** · Apr 6, 2001, 05:27

Originally posted by Skunk
How does setting the background to grey reduce RAM usage?

I checked up the default settings in my Netscape 4.6 and found that the bg color is set to gray, but it obeys the values of the web-pages and renders them as such.(But my earlier IE3 didn't do that)
But a blank browser window is still gray in NS4.6 as per the default.
Ok, answer to your question:
In an effort to reduce the TSR's and to have free ram space so as to keep the Free Memory (Largest Executable Program Size) around 600K, I was advised by a help magazine to clear the Load-at-start-up proggys, reduce the color settings to 16 bit(Not 24 bit), and inter alia, set the default bg color in the browser as gray.
I deduced that any contrasting color in a gif image increases its size (less the contrast, less the fat - the maximum obesity if the gif is a transparent one!). I applied the same logic!
Am I far off the mark - it is for the guru's and pundits that populate these forums to educate and enlighten!
All ears!
Regards
S.K

**psalzer** · Apr 6, 2001, 17:35

Yahoo must have done something, because in Netscape 6 it's coming up white for me. I checked and the default is still set for gray, so it's not in the browser.
Looking at it, I can kind of see where it could look a little nicer without scaring anyone away. Just newer versions of the same basic logos and icons would help a lot. A tiny bit of color coordination wouldn't really damage their integrity or usability either.
As far as the layout goes, I guess if it ain't broke, don't fix it, but it's gotten a little cluttered to be comfortable for my aging eyes to read.

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