on the negative, the size of the hover frame could be a little smaller, why the need for the ads on the right? And the rapid display of the hover frame is annoying. I would rather seem them have some sort of timer on each link so if you rest on it, it will open, if you just float over it, it won’t.

Overall I think this is just what people have been waiting for…

I agree with the huge flyouts. I don’t think they’re necessary.

Though in fairness, I think they ARE going the right direction, but I wouldn’t mind not having all that stuff on the homepage.

He spent about 10 minutes looking for the link to reset it back the way he had it. The words he was saying aren’t something I’d want to publish here.

These flyouts seem to be a bastardised version of mega-menu concept and they don’t provide much use on the first sight at all.

Having said all this, I have always had an issue with Yahoo home page and still think it is crammed and difficult to digest.

I also agree with your point of inconsistency across various Yahoo provisions. They are really bad on that front and it is especially wrong considering Yahoo are massive proponents of web standards, patterns and so on.

Google do much better than Yahoo on UI aspects, although Google make masses of bad decisions too.

They could work, but in their current guise they don’t.

As to the fly-outs, I predict they’ll keep them. They are a fantastic way for the designers to get the media droids off their backs (“Look! We’ve given you acres of inventory! Think of the impressions!”). Meanwhile, people will simply click them and get the intended experience of the target site.

Very clever!

I’ll leave it there, because I still think the fly-outs are generally screwing the new awesome design.

Certainly a bit annoying. They are slow loading, and the biggest peeve for me is that it’s not consistent. Some of the nav items don’t have the menu, so I hover over them and wait…and wait…and nothing. The expectation has been set for a menu, so I feel like something broke when I don’t get one.

All I can tell you is that they bug the hell out of me…

I don’t envy designers in this situation (I’ve been there before), and it takes a special sort of talent to make changes across departments.

Ultimately, consistency across an organization has to come from the top. The upper management are the only ones who can improve the structure and goals of the company to support a consistent design. I hate to bring up the always-used example of Apple, but they have a rabid upper management (Jobs) who is focused on achieving this.

With regard to the disjointed nature of Yahoo! properties, I feel empathy for them. I work for a large organization and curate our internal design framework, so I strive to enforce consistency (look, feel, and behaviors) throughout the product offerings. Nonetheless, resources (time, people, money) dictate that we cannot overhaul every aspect of our product offerings when we roll a new release. We iterate and focus on targeted “real estate.” IMHO, if Yahoo! only released “total makeovers” rather than “point releases” of targeted properties, they’d never innovate and would be dreadfully behind its competitors.

In other news, since Carol Bartz is CEO of Yahoo!, known for her ability to “get houses in order,” I am optimistic that she can streamline the organization, reduce redundancy, and increase interoffice communication and collaboration in order to ensure a more consistent experience in Yahoo! product offerings.