The problem with making stuff for the web is all things are temporal. This page I was once quite proud of, and has been replaced by a new design. sigh.

I'd be interested in hearing the story of why it was replaced

Considering usability, I like the new design better because it puts
the search type buttons closer to the rest of the form, which makes
more sense.

Considering aesthetics, the old design had a very nice feel.

Considering Yahoo!, they probably wanted to look more like Google. The similarities are creepy.

If it's any consolation, having the content choices along the top
seems to be a new convention on the web, which is great for all the
little guys out there trying to solve this same problem.

Swap out the Yahoo design for Google and you have Google. That said
it somewhat works for me, but it does on Google too, probably because
as my eye reads across the text field I am seeing something above the
box that draws my eye.

I really liked the previous tabs too as it provided a *view* to the search results.

As Victor points out we may be seeing best practice by emulation of the market leader. Familiarity of interface can ease consistent use patterns.

What a shame!

Your original was simple and most of all different from the google clones out there!

Is there no such thing as innovation anymore?

Victor and vanderwal have both said that the new screen follows convention but is the old screen so different as to impede the user experience?

IMHO conventions like these seem to be based on marketing type objective - "we must emulate google to be successful" instead of by design.

we'd need to know the rationale behind it - they probably had a
goal, or maybe they had some statistical data we don't know of, but
without knowing any of it it's hard to make a judgement. If life has
taught me something after years of mistake, this is asking for the
reason of a thing before drawing a conclusion.

I think the similarity to Google is beneficial. One of the strengths of design patterns comes from a simple rule:

If a design pattern is commonly-used by a large number of (high-traffic'd) sites, you better have a pretty good reason to re-design it.

In many (most?) cases, familiarity is the preferred option.

W/regard the innovation comment: I'd bring up Carr here and say that innovation is to be found in business and brand strategy rather than the design of specific pages. Generally. He said nervously, in front of a horde of fierce designers...

The original design looked nicer (arguably). But it also looked different. And different is generally bad.

Personally I didn't like the Yahoo interface. The distance between
the search label (web, images, etc) and the form field was too far away.

Making the connection that they are related meant stepping back from the search box and looking at the web page.

I agree that it looks like a design pattern, I disagree on the calling it a new pattern. We've always said to add the label next to the corresponding field.

*In many (most?) cases, familiarity is the preferred option.*

True, but eventually it breeds boredom.

>> *In many (most?) cases, familiarity is the preferred option.*

> True, but eventually it breeds boredom.

I know it's Christmas (soon), but I can't help myself...

Surely a boring (invisible, transparent, un-noticeable or unobtrusive) interface is a good thing? For something like a search engine, the interest and novelty comes from the content that is eventually located, not the pretty, twinkling things that sit on the interface?

Familiarity breeds content (he said, punningly).

Christina - waddya think?

It is exactly Google, with Yahoo's name. I don't understand this strategy. It certainly won't draw people away from Google- there's no incentive to switch to something new that is identical to what you're already using. And it sends a message that Yahoo is not innovative- anything new and good will show up on Google first (like Google Suggest), and be copied by Yahoo a year later. I liked Christina's design better.

thanks. I can't really say why it happened, though I have my theories.

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