February 2 2001

Another new look for AltaVista

AltaVista has done it again. It has got a new look. It changed twice last year, so we have not necessarily seen the end of instability. However, the search company is finally focusing on what it knows best: searching.

The reason websites change their interface like this is normally the belief that the new design will make it easier for visitors to find what they are looking for. Happy customers are returning customers. There are, however, a lot of factors to take into consideration.

There's not much real estate on a computer screen. You may think so, because you have the latest high resolution 21 inch flat wide screen from Apple. Some of us still work on an iMac or a PC with an 15 inch screen, however. Although more and more people are getting larger screens, a Web master cannot afford to not take us into consideration.

You may design your page in such a way that the content fill the screen regardless of screen resolution. The page will render differently, however, depending on screen size, browser type, browser version, operation system and computer platform, which makes this a very risky adventure. Chances are your page will look like -- eh, undesirable -- on at least some setups, especially if you are trying to include a lot of information in a complicated layout. Some Web designers make different pages for different browsers and resolutions, but that can only take you so far.

AltaVista has now chose a so-called "fixed" layout for their front page, meaning that they are designing for the smallest common denominator: a screen that is 640 pixels wide. So does Pandia when it comes to pages like the one you are reading now.

At the same time AltaVista has reduced the number of fancy graphics, making it more mundane and less "glossy" or "stylish". The page signals that it is a practical tool box, not the search engine version of Dior. The all encompassing portal design is gone, meaning that AltaVista have listened to those critics who have begged the company to focus on its core competence: searching.

In a note to its users, AltaVista says that they have made "the difficult decision to phase out several non-search related features of our site, including: Clubs, Photo Albums, Home Pages, Message Boards, Chat, My AltaVista, the My Live! customized portal (including Bookmarks and Stock Portfolios) and the AltaVista Member Center." They will also phase out "My Accounts".

The main content on the front page is a search form and a topic catalogue structure.This sound's familiar, doesn't it? And yes, the concept is the old proven one, invented and promoted by the most popular of all search portals: Yahoo!

Yahoo! succeeds not only because it was one of the first on the market and has a well known brand. It succeeds because it has an uncluttered (although unsexy) interface that rarely changes. The surfer knows what she gets at Yahoo!. You don't have to learn any new techniques or navigation skills if you don't want to.

AltaVista, on the other hand, changes all the time. By choosing this familiar concept, however, this recent change does not have to scare the regular visitors away.

Our verdict? Well, it certainly looks boring, but it works! Searching is what AltaVista should be about. Hence, it seems like AltaVista is finally finding its way home.

Please note that there is also a new special search tools page, gathering all of AltaVista's email, tools and search facilities on one page, including yellow pages, topic search, and various "search centers" (for cars, auctions, entertainment, news and more). We will come back to this feature as soon as we have had the time to test it thoroughly.

• AltaVista
• AltaVista Tools
• To see the old layout, visit the partners version of AltaVista
• The UK version of AltaVista has a different design
• AltaVista on AltaVista's new look
• AltaVista's letter to their visitors

More search engine news...