Yahoo! has finally released their new homepage design which features a cleaner, less cluttered layout with increased prominence for their search engine. Below is a before and after shot of the same homepage using both layouts:

Old Design:

New Design:

As you can see Yahoo’s search box is now much larger and integrated into the overall design of the page. You might also have noticed the addition of a “popular searches” section on the right hand side of the page. The obvious intention here is to target hot topics on the web to get people clicking and searching with Yahoo!

The other major change is the addition of customizable favourites or apps that lets users add their favourite sites to the Yahoo! homepage. Users can now visit sites like eBay or facebook without leaving the Yahoo! Homepage. The favourites list can be edited to include any sites with an RSS feed.

Overall I think the page is a great visual improvement from the previous design and the apps feature is useful – but I don’t think it will do much to arrest Yahoo’s declining search share. What do you think? Let us know via the comments below!