BBC unveils new-look home page

Leigh Holmwood
Guardian Unlimited,
Friday December 14 2007
BBC home page: features an analogue clock as an 'homage
to the golden days'The BBC has unveiled its new-look
bbc.co.uk website home page, promising users a greater
level of customisation and other new features.
Launched in a beta format today to coincide with the
10th anniversary of the website, the new-look front
can be accessed via a link on the current homepage.
The redesign marks the first stage of the rollout of
new features aimed at what the BBC said was its plan
to deliver a "reinvented" bbc.co.uk providing a
"world-class on-demand user experience".It will allow
users to customise the range and detail of content,
and is made up of moveable widgets to determine the
layout of the page.Each widget is also customisable
so with the entertainment widget, users will be able
to chose from the latest news from programmes including
EastEnders and Doctor Who.
Users can also receive feeds from blogs produced across
the BBC, ranging from Newsnight to BBC Radio 1's Chris
Moyles, as well as localising news and weather feeds
and dictating the number of headlines that appear.
For the first time, users will also be able to listen
to BBC Radio live directly from the homepage and browse
BBC TV schedules.
The BBC said the beta page marked the beginning of work
that would culminate with all its online content being
accessible from the bbc.co.uk homepage.
The BBC internet controller, Tony Ageh, said: "These
exciting developments mark an important stage in the
work the BBC is doing to aggregate content more
effectively and give users more control over how
they experience bbc.co.uk.
"Enabling users to organise components of the homepage
around the subjects that are most important to them
increases its value and relevance, while still
remaining a powerful expression of the BBC on the
internet."In a blog on the new homepage, BBC acting
head of user experience and design, Richard Titus,
described the new look as a "lick of paint" which he
said was "simple, clean and beautiful".
The new home page also features a "BBC1 analogue
clock" in the top right-hand corner.
Titus added that this was originally punted as a
"bit of fun", but which feedback found was seen
as an "homage to the 'golden days' of analogue
programming" and "bizarrely reassuring".He said
that by taking a "collaborative and flexible approach",
it had taken just three months for the new home
page to come to fruition.
Most comments on the blog were positive, although
criticisms included the widget headings being "too
chunky".

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