Richard MacManus of Web 2.0 has some initial thoughts on the redesign of Yahoo News. More branding for the content providers, clever uses of collapsing menus so that it’s easier to flick between categories and top headlines from different sources, and a new "drill down" feature which lets you run a Y!Q search on words and phrases that have been enabled within articles. There’s even a cool little slideshow feature that lets you play the through the top photos of the day (I see now this is not a new feature but it’s cool nonetheless).
Yahoo’s editorial touch is evident as well with links to articles that have been pulled together to cover popular topics. Yahoo’s had these "Full Coverage" pages before but having them highlighted in the top right brings this feature to the fore. Links at the bottom of stories allow you to IM a story to someone and an interactive ranking system for each story no doubt feeds into the "Recommended Stories" section.
RSS junkies would be happy to hear that almost everything you can think of is RSS-enabled so you can bring your own slice of what you see into your reader.
I think I see Neil Budde’s vision taking place. Neil joined the Yahoo News team in November and was one of the original minds behind wsj.com. This is what happens when you give someone with editorial vision access to a team of talented engineers.
Online Journalism Review coverage of Yahoo News
Online Tour of Yahoo News
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