Neowin.net - MSN.com beta testing new homepage

MSN.com beta testing new homepage

Posted by Mr magoo on 26 June 2004 - 00:03 · 33 comments & 3042 views

Neowin member Jabb has posted some screenshots from the new version of MSN.com. Currently in testing for a 'select number of users', one can see a few things have changed so far.

MSN have mainly updated the look and feel of the page. Arguably something that can be dismissed as a minor change, one can easily see how it is quite important. MSN.com is the start page (by default) for many many people and thus a slick interface is key for Microsoft. The page appears to be a little more ad free than its current state, yet it is quite possible that Microsoft will add extra ads at a later date.

The search bar also appears to have been made a bit clearer (bold green highlights). Bearing in mind what we have said about this being the default page for many IE users, this can certainly be seen as a early and easy move for Microsoft to make in the ‘search wars’; simple is key for users, and as Microsoft have proved so many times before, if it is there by default most people will use it. A strategy that will no doubt allow them to win over 'easy' customers from search giant Google.

View: MSN.com

Screenshot: One | Two

View: BPN Discussion

Robert Guillaume - Dr. Eli Vance
Robert Culp - Dr. Wallace Breen
Lou Gossett, Jr. - Vortigaunt
Michelle Forbes - Dr. Judith Mossman
Merle Dandridge - Alyx Vance
Mike Shapiro - Barney Calhoun
Mike Shapiro - G-Man
Harry S. Robins - Dr. Isaac Kleiner
Jim French - Father Grigori
John Patrick Lowrie - Citizens/Misc. characters
Mary Kae Irvin - Citizens/Misc. characters
Ellen McLane - Overwatch voice

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#1 Posted by FireWire on 26 Jun 2004 - 00:08: Lots of people can already see that page. I've been seen it for the past 2 months. It's pretty cool.

#2 Posted by divertom15 on 26 Jun 2004 - 00:10: actually #2 isnt the "new page" this is the new page note the new search at the top! altho it seems firefox cant show the broadband area at the top and instead reverts to the narrowband even if your on the broadband version

#3 Posted by VinylGroover on 26 Jun 2004 - 00:29: An updated version of ninemsn.com.au would be great!

#4 Posted by Cody on 26 Jun 2004 - 00:45: im getting this 'new' page also..

#5 Posted by einsteinbqat on 26 Jun 2004 - 00:54: It looks like the new Sympatico/MSN portal (Canada).

#6 Posted by allfive6 on 26 Jun 2004 - 01:08: Looks like the same page I have been seeing for last 2 months whats new? Anyone know?

#7 Posted by RaINE on 26 Jun 2004 - 01:15: a select few users ? I dont even visit msn.com but on the diff box's I have, all showed the same page....

(1 reply) #8 Posted by Ryan92 on 26 Jun 2004 - 01:35: I got the new page, but with a bunch of invalid links and X's with a white background . Is it just me or anyone else getting that?

#9 Posted by chacho on 26 Jun 2004 - 01:53: they should really slim down the main page and make all that extra content available on the "my msn" page, along the lines of yahoo, but even less...would make it so much better....

(1 reply) #10 Posted by Frankenchrist on 26 Jun 2004 - 02:02: Try validating the page. It's not Valid HTML and actually have a few errors...

And strangely enough, there are more errors when you validate in IE (69 errors) than in firefox (53 errors) probably due to the different pages loaded for each browser.

http://validator.w3.org/check?verbose=1&uri=http%3A//www.msn.com/

#11 Posted by paulhaskew on 26 Jun 2004 - 02:08: looks kinda like the BroadBand version of MSN... hmmmm

(4 replies) #12 Posted by bobbenedetti on 26 Jun 2004 - 02:19: Canadian Sympatico subscribers are getting this new design now, Check it out at
http://sympatico.msn.ca/

Bob Benedetti

#13 Posted by war on 26 Jun 2004 - 04:05: I perfer http://msnmember.my.msn.com/ myself.

#14 Posted by neo_joel on 26 Jun 2004 - 05:37: Bittorent eh..hehe

#15 Posted by Adem on 26 Jun 2004 - 09:03: im not being funny but my msn.com has been like that for a while...

(1 reply) #16 Posted by andyboy2k2 on 26 Jun 2004 - 11:51: That discussion thread started Jan 25, 2004. Maybe that's something to do with why everyone can already see it.

#17 Posted by BGuillaume on 26 Jun 2004 - 12:14: that's a big so what ???? what's the news in here, there is nothing new that's worth being mentionned in this page

#18 Posted by sculver on 26 Jun 2004 - 13:55: WOW, I agree why do they even need to test it. Very little has changed. And for those who think it Exactly the same, check out the screenshot from post #2, that shows the true new page. The screenshots in the original post are of the old (current) page.

I think it interesting though that the page has less error in Firefox than in IE. Go ahead and test it out
go to http://www.msn-int.com/ to go to the test page. In IE no pictures or backgrounds appear and everything is all messed up, in Firefox its only missing some images. (The page is really not ready for testing yet)http://www.msn-int.com

(2 replies) #19 Posted by Cyranthus on 26 Jun 2004 - 15:48: doesnt look at that different to me... except for the top part... ooooo msn changed their banner, so what? why is this in the news?

(1 reply) #20 Posted by ludeboy on 26 Jun 2004 - 19:53: Does MS still think people are using 800x600? Let the page resize!

#21 Posted by Porp on 27 Jun 2004 - 01:09: Sympatico MSN showed the new page for a while but then took it down.. I wonder why, and it was called MSN Bell Sympatico.

#22 Posted by Mav Phoenix on 27 Jun 2004 - 01:36: You need to beta test a web page? WTF...

#23 Posted by Thebuggerguy on 27 Jun 2004 - 02:05: someone should update the screenshots in the news post.. the new msn.com is the one with the full green search bar, as shown in #2

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