RSSMicrosoft's Live Search homepage adds background image with clickable spots
By Ed Oswald | Published July 30, 2008, 4:20 PM
While it doesn't add much to the overall function of the search engine itself, Microsoft's latest update to the Windows Live Search homepage adds a background image with "hotspots" that can be clicked.
For example, the first background appearing on Live Search shows a picture of the Okavango Delta in Botswana, with four clickable areas are included on the map. One over the trees in the distance asks "What will you see on your safari in Botswana?" with links to search results on animals on the country. Another link, over the boater's head takes users to an overhead view of the region using Live Search Maps.
Microsoft had already prepped its search portal for the change through a redesign this spring that replaced the Google-like plainness of the front page with a more colorful design, although maintaining simplicity.
The company is making sure that the additional functionality is not going to slow down users who have no need for it. The base page would load first, allowing a search to be initiated quickly, while the imagery and hotspots are loaded later.
Some may question why such a feature should be a priority for a search engine that right now is far behind its competitors Yahoo and Google in terms of market share. The Live Search team's answer for that appears to be differentiation.
"We want the page to be a great place to start a search and also to intrigue and inform as well," the team wrote in its blog. "We think hotspots will help users discover parts of Live Search they might not know while not distracting from the core purpose of the page -- searching."
The new Live Search homepage is live now for most in the United States, and Microsoft says it plans to launch the concept in other markets in the near future.
I have experienced the Windows Live Search homepage added background image with "hotspots" that can be clicked. My first thought was how did they code the page to do this. This article explains the Windows Live Search homepage. I believe it depends on the programming savvy of the homepage owner it can produce dynamic content for a few seconds or the content be set to repeat. To me it’s like a page that can do a sort of 3D repeat or one time welcome to my Windows Live Search homepage. It's not a big deal but its nice feature.
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|live search is great, I love it and use it...and I'm one of those who thinks it's ok that Microsoft does something...anything. You know it's ok that MS does things right?
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|How about this Live View copyright infraction mess?
http://www.flickr.com/gr...omment72157606441890548
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|WELL , THATS NOT NEW TECH , BUT NOW THAT MICROSOFT DOES IT WOOOOOOOOOTT , lmao instructables.com has been doing THAT FOR years.
and it is easy to implement aswell
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|I like it. Live search is just as good as any other.
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|I found this out yesterday. http://myitforum.com/cs2...round-just-changed.aspx
Initially, thought my computer had been hi-jacked.
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|Juvenile. Plus, a big waste of time and bandwidth
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|So now they're having to copy Ask.com? Does Microsoft have actual employees or do the execs just make this s*** up when time permits?
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|Hehe :) Clicking on 'Take a tour' at Corp:
Access denied to http://club.live.com/tou...epage_producttour_may08
The URL you entered is categorized as Computer Games and has been blocked...
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|um, that's your firewall...
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|Indeed. And it is amusing me (or rather the clowns setting up the policy)
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|"At corp" would mean "at work," so, yeah:)
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|That's just... weird. I don't really see any outstanding need for that feature.
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|It's a similar idea as the Google script sometimes changing on specific dates to give some background info. If you are just browsing about you might pick up one or the other interesting thing...
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|It's just crap...simply put. I swear, M$ is filled with idiots !!
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|Dunno. Looks nice to me. Calming green land scape and beautiful nature. Then again doesn't bother me since I use Google :)
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|I like it. Had Apple done this, we would be signing their praises how revolutionary it is.
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