Take a look at the Yahoo! Homepage and the new AOL Beta Homepage. The look like basic clones of one another; placement of the search box, tabbed news and content browsing, advertisement section and easy access for mail and other personalized tools.
So, if this a result of user experience optimization, or lack of imagination?
Look at all the “web 2.0″ type pages…they are all really similar.
look at retail stores…they all have the same look and feel…especially grocery stores. Why wouldn’t the web end up being the same?
Well, you could argue that all banks use the same efficient system… until Washington Mutual reinvents it.
Same with stores, the 7-11 model was used for decades, and then in the Mid Atlantic area, Wawa reinvents the quickie mart layout model.
I don’t agree that usability is a zero sum equation :)
These are pretty darned similar though – even down to the shading and the button placements.
I wonder why they are literally *the same!*
This is rediculous!
It looks like some one at AOL did save,search, replace and upload.
I was showing a friend of mine today and that 250×250 adblock had an AD for Vonage on both Yahoo and AOL – exactly the same ad (green).
we’ll see how long this lasts…
thats disgusting. .. you think with all the money they have, and all the talent in this world, they’d be able to create something unique.
:(
I guess both Yahoo n AOL hired the same web designing company to design their homepages… LOL!