Yahoo! the new AOL homepage looks awfully familiar

by Brad Linder Apr 27th 2007

AOL -- this blog's parent company -- has launched a redesigned home page, and you know, there's something awfully familiar about the layout. We just can't quite put our finger on it.

The portal's easier to navigate, has a nice set of links on the lefthand side -- oh yeah, and it looks almost exactly like the Yahoo! home page.

The wise-crackers at digg are having a field day with this one. One of our favorite quotes:

"What are you talking about? This is *so* not a rip-off of Yahoo. For example: Whereas Yahoo has search links of: Web, Images, Video, Local, Shopping ...the AOL site has links of Web, Images, *News*, and Local.

You could make the case that this is an intuitive web design for any company to follow, but it does look awfully similar.

For a company trying to reinvent itself as a web portal rather than a internet service provider, AOL really needs to focus on new and innovative services rather than playing a game of follow the leader by copying sites like Google, digg and Yahoo!.

Of course, we have to admit that investing in a blogging network was a great start.

[via TechCrunch]

Tags: aol, web design, WebDesign

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Sharon D said 4:16PM on 4-27-2007

Anything is better than what it was!
Like you said,they need something new to make it worth using regularly.

Jeff said 9:45PM on 4-27-2007

I had said this on another site where I first spotted the story...

First - Holy Crap - it's almost an exact match! If you use the "wide" view of Yahoo that is... (Although the "AOL News" block at the top with the scrolling stories and pictures - looks more like a knockoff of MSN. No tabs, additional stories under it.)

But second... Is it a copyright infringement type thing like media that's copied, or is it a case of "your product is so good, we're going to imitate it." That stuff happens all the time. Clothing, Electronics, Food Labels... often will look very similar.

Either way - it's definitely almost a twin with the biggest difference being that featured news part I mentioned earlier.

I'd say someone saw Yahoo and said "Yeah - like THAT!"

netster007x said 1:30AM on 4-28-2007

Wow, I remember when Yahoo! made their new homepage; many were calling it a copy of AOL's. That was a stretch, but now the tables have turned and I agree this is practically carbon copy. I wonder if there'll be any withdrawal like when Google took Yahoo!'s IE7 page then later repealed it? I'm guessing there will be in some form.

ehui boni severin said 7:52AM on 4-29-2007

please send information toay
to get yahoo the ne aol homepage

Featured Time Waster

Civiballs is a beautiful, soothing physics puzzle Time Waster

I have an absolute weakness for physics games, and while Civiballs isn't the strongest physics-based game, what it lacks in the physics department it makes up for a few times over in style and fun.

In Civiballs, you are presented with a few colored balls, and your goal is to get those balls into the same-colored urn on the level. The "civi" part of Civiballs is that there are 3 sets of levels to play, each representing a different civilization. While the civilization doesn't affect gameplay, the artwork for each level is beautifully themed to it's appropriate era.

To play the game, you are given only one tool - a sword with which to cut the chains that are holding the balls. The puzzle part of the game is in figuring out what order, and with what timing to cut each chain. Do it right, and all the right balls end up in the right urns, with no stray balls entering an urn (a no-no). Do it wrong, and you get to start over again.

Civiballs is not terribly deep on gameplay; the entire game can be completed in about 15 minutes. But if you enjoy this type of game, it will be a very enjoyable 15 minutes.

View more Time Wasters