RSSMSN Begins Work on Modular Web Site
By Ed Oswald | Published August 26, 2005, 6:06 PM
A visit to MSN's beta site indicates that the online service has recently begun work on a new version of its homepage. The new site appears to be taking cues from MSN's Start.com test bed, as well as moving some features from its My MSN customizable page to the front page.
From the current design, it appears that users will be able to collapse, add, move, and delete content modules.
Search boxes still appear at the top and the bottom of the site, and the listing of content sections has been moved from the left sidebar in the current design to the top. Prominent links have been given to Hotmail, Messenger and MSN in this top bar.
The site does not yet work with Firefox, and seems to load incorrectly in Internet Explorer 7 within Windows Vista Beta 1. Also, the site is not yet live, meaning a user cannot sign in and customize content on the page as of yet.
While a message at the bottom of Start.com calls the site "an incubation experiment [that] doesn't represent any particular strategy or policy," MSN officials have hinted that some of the features shown may make it onto actual MSN Web sites.
"This isn't a final product but instead is intended to show people some of the ideas we at MSN are exploring around providing a rich experience around Web-based RSS/Atom aggregation," MSN Program Manager Dare Obasanjo said in March.
i work on this page. what don't you like about it, and what do you like? we really want feedback to make our products and services better. another group in the division is working on improving hotmail. what could or should we do to make the homepage better?
also - this is alpha code so we haven't done the work yet to support firefox, which is in our browser support matrix.
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|"MSN Begins Work on Modular Web Site"
I'm still trying to figure out why this is so newsworthy. "My Netscape" did the same modular type interface YEARS ago. I don't use it, but none-the-less --- almost 6 years ago, if my faltering memory serves.
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|It don't work with Firefox......that means I don't use it.
I will not use IE.
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|Oh wow...that's juts f-ugly.
Sorry, just not gonna bother opening up IE to take a look at it, if they don't want to support my browser, they don't want my visits.
Not that MSN ever once intrigued me, even in the slightest...
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|As a web developer, I find it really hard to take this seriously as not only is it incompatible with Firefox -- but completely disfigured and malformed with Firefox.
A web page is a simple script. Hopefully, larger companies will be using XHTML. Add some CSS -- perhaps some javascript for modifying elements on the fly and switching around styles... and for dynamic content, PHP / ASP / etc. plays no part on the client's side.
That aside - MS's Windows Update and a few of their sites require Active-X plug-ins as they interact directly with a users' system -- therefore, it's excusable in some respect that a software delivery program by MS be proprietary to MS software...
But this is MSN -- how can this page be this dependent on non-standard code? It's ridiculous.
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|"But this is MSN -- how can this page be this dependent on non-standard code?"
Because they don't care =p. They figure if someone doesn't want to use IE to view it, then it's no loss. All they care about are IE users.
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|Sounds fine to me. Now I can boycott MSN aswell.
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|Gotta wonder if they should take their blinder off one of these days... FireFox users are, on the (w)hole, anti-MS to begin with. Alienating them even more is not going expand their market-share at all.
*shrug*
MS seems to be aiming at their feet. Can I say, 'Hey man, nice shot!"
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|ok first of all MSN-AOL should get together , they are great at making over bloated, spam , addvertiseing,popup, sites. do I need to say more.
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|Well, I see they're still building their site around their mediocre search engine. Can't MSN make up their mind about their homepage? Every few months or so they're updating it now, and none of the designs have been any good (or attractive for that matter). They've updated only a few of the sites to their services, like MSNBC and Encarta, but are yet to make any changes to others, like Hotmail.
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|"and none of the designs have been any good"
Could that be why they're redoing it all the bleedin time?
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|http://start.com/3/ - Another test site by Microsoft if you haven't heard about it yet - Which actually works in Firefox.
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|oh craps, it looks terrible in firefox ...
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|exactly
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|It does indeed, But It looks great in IE7beta
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|Boring! More of Billy Boy trying to get the web to do things his way. Nothing to see here...
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|"![if !IE] script src="/extern/wsfw/compat/0.072605.0/msncompat.js" /script ![endif]"
Heh, they need a compatability script for anything but IE (conditional VBscript statement) ... Well, Firefox 1.5 is just around the corner (Branched within the last month) & Firefox 2.0 is looking brilliant.
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|I don't know, I'm skeptical. It looks too much like Google. Not everyone is looking for such a minimalistic approach. There is nothing wrong with having a graphics-enhanced front-end. It's not like people are using 2800 baud modems anymore.
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|What they need to refresh is Hotmail. It's long overdue for a facelift. In fact all the MS properties need a extreme makeover. Yea... I know people get used to things, like my mother-in-law, but things are looking so 90ish, and site have become more feature rich and therefore more personized, MS is late to the party agian, I hope they put some effort into some updated features.
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|Exactly...."late [...] again" Everybody gets Gmail, with new features all the time AND two gb, and Microsoft offer age old Hotmail with 25 mb! If this is the kind of thinking that being "#1" brings, I don't ever want to be #1. Of course, a year from now they will release Vitsa, and all this garbage will be the default "internet" for Windows users.
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|quote
"What they need to refresh is Hotmail. It's long overdue for a facelift. In fact all the MS properties need a extreme makeover. Yea... I know people get used to things, like my mother-in-law, but things are looking so 90ish, and site have become more feature rich and therefore more personized, MS is late to the party agian, I hope they put some effort into some updated features."
ever hear of the term if it ain't broke don't fix it. if you want change change your desktop from that background of "seven of nine" from star trek you had up for probly the last 3 years lol
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|Your wish is Microsoft's command! They are working on a refresh/new look to Hotmail. (I'm a beta tester). Expect some exciting, new features and a whole new look!
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|Were you selected to beta test? Can other folks beta test it?
Just curious :)
Thanks.
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|I'm the group program manager of the portals team at MSN - which includes msn.com.
For official viewpoints on the site check out our team space at: http://spaces.msn.com/members/msnhomepage/
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