Windows Live Search Homepage Redesigned With Background Image
Microsoft, a distant No. 3 in the search market, today unveiled a redesign of its Windows Live Search engine that aims to strike a balance between the two approaches, while promoting Live Search features in the process.
While it does not add much to the overall function of the search engine itself, Microsoft’s latest update to the Windows Live Search homepage, visitors in the U.S. are being shown a new Live.com page —
although they may not notice it is new. The page looks mostly the same as before, except it now features a background photo that apparently will change periodically.
Background images, which according to the Live Search Team was made to “to find the best way to enhance users’ sense of discovery, surprise, and delight while balancing engineering realities for a great user experience.”
While those background images were not adequate to desecrate their search portal, Microsoft has even made the images interactive of sorts by peppering it with “hotspots” which when clicked will display bits and pieces of information about the image as well as link to related search results.
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.
In the past, Microsoft executives have touted the fact that their search engine was light enough to rival Google’s load time. So what about that? “To ensure that users can start a search immediately, our base page loads first with the images and hotspots loading quickly afterward,” write Chris Rayner and Zach Gutt on the Live Search blog. “Users on a broadband connection may not notice the two steps.”
The photo features a few blurry squares that show up when a mouse passes over them. If the user hovers for an extra second, a box pops up with a message that, when clicked, brings them to a page with additional information, including maps and photos.
Like the previous design, the page predominantly features the search bar and lets users choose to search images and videos. Links point to Web pages for Live maps, news and other Microsoft offerings.
“We think the new design is a great start, but there is more to come, with lots of interesting directions that we will be exploring in our next releases of the home page,” the employees wrote on the blog.
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.
“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.
Certainly, while the pictures may well give the Live.com homepage more aesthetic appeal and power, Microsoft is unlikely to gain ground against Google in online search and advertising until it clarifies its online services. In search, Google continues to hold a daunting lead over Microsoft, which runs a distant third even to Yahoo, the company Microsoft failed to acquire after months of negotiations.