Changes in Yahoo!

After reading Burnett’s and Marshall’s chapter “The Look of the Web,” in their book, Web Theory: An Introduction, I have found out that Yahoo! has made some significant changes in their web page in just ten years of time. One major change that I noticed right away when I compared the sites homepages is that now Yahoo! uses a lot more images and videos in their site. In the reading Burnett and Marshall say that because images and videos take so long to load onto the user’s interface, by not having any pictures or videos it allows the site to run quicker and more efficiently. The author’s state, “Icons: interestingly, Yahoo! does not produce a great number of images on its homepage. Its hierarchical structure of providing links has mandated the lack of particularity that a photograph connotes for the user. Moreover, photographs slow down the loading of the page and by their elimination, Yahoo!’s industrial strategy of quickly capturing its user base on its first page is achieved (Burnett and Marshall 97).”

Although there are some significant changes in the way Yahoo! presents its information, the articles two main focus points of the Yahoo! homepage are still intact. The first component of the page is the personalization of the page. The user can customize their homepage to display what they want to have on their screen and take out what they may not like or care about so they will not have to sift through all of the unwanted material. The second major component of the Yahoo! homepage that remains intact is the use of hypertext. In both versions of Yahoo! homepages the user can click on any sentence or word and be directed to the article or whatever that hypertext is intended to direct the user to.

Works Cited:

Burnett, Robert, and P. David Marshall. Web Theory: An Introduction. New York: Routledge, 2003. 81-101. eBook.