Yahoo! has launched its new-look homepage across the UK and Europe today, allowing users able to access other Yahoo!-owned domains and popular external sites with fewer clicks.
Yahoo! claims that the redesign is the most "radical" and "fundamental" in the company's 10-year history and was initially launched in the US earlier this week.
The new homepage features a 'My Favourites' sidebar on the left-hand-side of the page containing a number of apps and widgets that can be used to access sites like Yahoo! Mail, BBC News, eBay, Facebook and Flickr among others without having to leave the homepage.
Personalised content
Dragging the curser over these tiles opens up a window to the right where the desired content is displayed in a large window. Naturally enough, the arrangement of these tiles can be personalised and localised to suit the user's individual preferences.
Elsewhere on the page Yahoo! has partnered with leading news providers to provide direct feeds to content from The Guardian, Telegraph and Daily Mail with hyperlinks to the top 10 headlines from each paper.
One further news carousel in the centre of the page displays a somewhat random collection of stories in turn. This part of the page can't be customised, which is something of a shame seeing as how it's very much at the centre of things.
Buzz coming soon
Yahoo! Buzz, which is effectively a Digg-style news referral service for Yahoo! users, will be added to the homepage at the end of the month allowing users to see what the hottest stories on the web are at any given point.
Commenting on all the changes, Rich Riley, senior vice-president at Yahoo! Europe said: "At Yahoo!, we are focused on bringing greater simplicity and relevance to the way people experience the Web.
"The launch of Yahoo!'s new homepage, Yahoo! Buzz and our new Yahoo! Mail are powerful examples of our commitment to be at the centre of life online by helping people everywhere connect with the people and things that matter most to them."
UK Yahoo! users keen to try the new homepage can log on to the site from today by clicking here.
