This is what the new MSN homepage looks like
Whenever a popular Internet website announces changes, chance is high that a vocal part of its userbase, often not the majority, criticizes some or even all of the changes.
Today MSN announced that it will launch a new version of its homepage in the near future inviting all users of it to take it for a test ride before the official switch is being made.
A prompt is displayed to visitors of the US MSN website that the new MSN is coming and that they can preview the new version right at that time with a click on the link.
Here is a screenshot of the old MSN homepage that displays the information at the top of the page.
Note that the banner won't be displayed when you visit the same page a second time or reload it.
If you missed the banner or did not have time to click on the link when it was displayed, you can still load it with a click on this link.
When you open the new version you will notice immediately that it is now adapting to the browser's screen size. The old MSN website used a centered layout regardless of screen size.
That's not the only change that you will notice immediately. For one, the new homepage displays less text links and more image or thumbnail links.
Another new feature is the direct integration of services such as Facebook, OneDrive or Twitter. Once you link the service to MSN, usually by clicking on its link and signing in, you will receive updates right on the MSN homepage with options to go to the service in question for additional details.
News categories that get displayed on the MSN homepage can be customized easily. A click on the username at the top, this works if you are not signed in to MSN as well but may not be permanent in this case, displays an option to customize the page.
This allows you to add or remove news sections of interest. If you are not interested in entertainment, you can remove that section from the homepage and replace it with sections such as politics or tech & science that you may be interested in.
Note that this has only an effect on individual sections found below the breaking news section. Even if you disable entertainment, you may still receive news about Kate and William's new baby or other celebrity news up there.
I have to admit that I'm not using MSN or any news-type website for that matter. Good news is that it seems that the changes will be rolled out to all versions of the MSN homepage and not only the US one.
What about you? Are you a MSN user? If so, what is your take on the new design? Better? Worse? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
The MSN logo will be less ugly, and uses Segoe. After a few years, MSN will be finally in line with other Microsoft products in terms of current design language.
Hey there scary lady
There is also a special Windows 8 version of MSN (http://t.msn.com/) if you are using IE. Will this version also disappear?
Good question. Cannot really say as Microsoft has not made any mention of it.
That redirects when you use another Browser.
Ah, Microsoft, when you will learn to make things accessible globally?
Msn landing page is always the first thing I get rid of after Bing search engine. But for a laugh I went there after reading this article. There I tried to set my local settings. It said it couldn’t save them and said I should try later. Yeah, right! :)
Do not like any change-the one that is there works fine for me.Change just for the sake of change is stupid(e.g.Windows 8).
I love how you have to show us what the new MSN site looks like…because, it’s not as if any of us are actually going to visit the site itself ourselves to find out ;-) Poor, old Microsoft…
+1
++;
Dear Martin, Alan and Melanie:
With a spirit of helpful improvement, and at the risk of provoking the ire or snide remarks of other readers, I should like to point out that the proper and accepted expression in English is “HOW (X) LOOKS” or “WHAT (X) LOOKS LIKE” and thus the amalgamation “how the new MSN homepage looks like” just ain’t good English.
I would also like to bring to your attention that the present perfect tense in English (have missed, has gone, etc.) is never used with a specific past tense indicator (“when it was displayed”, “last week”, “on Tuesday”), but is reserved for unspecified or nonspecific past situations related to the present moment, as in “we haven’t finished yet” (up to now), “she has written several articles” (over the last couple of months and up to the present, but exactly when is not specified), and may employ such time or frequency expressions as sometimes, often, once in a while, from time to time, always, never, for a long time, over the last ten years, since 2010, etc.
The simple past tense (“missed”, “went”, “took”, etc.) is necessary when speaking or writing about a specific moment in the past that is over and done with, as in “If you missed the banner when it was displayed.”
Your articles are helpful and interesting, which is why I am a subscriber of your daily emails (and have been for some time). They will be even more pleasurable to read as you progress toward impeccable English.
Thanks! I appreciate you taking the time to point out some of the errors in the article. We try our best to avoid these in future articles.
I just on MSN I hardly ever go there, but I watched a video on how to get a backlink from MSN and thought I would give it a shot for the PR6 Ranking then I realized that it’s not the same MSN and the link icon is gone in the comments. So do you know how to get that backlink on todays MSN?
@jbyrdmor – WHO CARES?!?! You want a sticker and a baloon for your narcissistic english-correcting blabbery?
How much do you get paid for going around to blogs and review sites and stomping all over them? I bet it’s not enough!
Bill. It’s always the Neanderthal who is offended by proper English….my question: why are you so rude when someone tries to show you a different way? Just because it exposes your illiteracy?
I really like your examples and corrections. Personally, I do have hard times figuring out complicated perfect tenses and combinations.
It is unfair to expect someone who may not be born with English as his/her mother tongue,to use always the correct grammatical forms,and besides,this is a technically oriented publication,we love it just for this reason,and who cares about such issues of grammatics!
IMO, even if one has his mother tongue as English, the grammatical part is still only learnt with practice. I’m still trying to catch up with my grammar, but probably I’ll never be able to reach a spot where I could claim that I use proper grammar. Maybe only the teachers know how to make the best use of tenses and other objects.
John Arata… You might not care….and it doesn’t matter in the big picture
— the dumber Americans are, the better, right? Not everyone feels the same! Using ‘other-language’ as YOUR crutch or excuse is lame and lazy.
While I never visited MSN in the first place I’m kind of sad to hear it’s changing. It was like the old barbershop down the street, with that peppermintesque spinning pole (what the hell are those things?), checkerboard floors, and white smocks. Now suddenly they’re playing top 40 radio, wearing black vests, standing on stained concrete, and carrying the latest copy of Cosmopolitan. Sad times.
You can find out here/there or whatever is proper english :OP
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barber%27s_pole#Use_in_barbering
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/10/bloody-history-barber-pole/
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/09/02/hidden-meanings-of-10-professional-symbols/
The only time I visit MSN is when I am using a fresh install of Windows and haven’t yet installed a new browser or set the IE homepage to blank. I wouldn’t know if they changed the page or not.
That said, one would assume that they are mimicking the pre-school look of Metro like I have seen on the few MS sites that I have visited. Here’s a pro-tip for MS. If it was a good design, others would mimic it. I have yet to see anyone copy the Metro look and feel. Anecdotal I know, but it tracks to Win8 sales numbers. (Just think what their numbers would look like if they hadn’t forced Win8 on OEM machines.)
I used to use iGoogle for quick perusing of news by certain topics & hadn’t found a decent replacement (Google News is completely unmanageable & I strictly avoid all things ‘Yahoo’), but this new version of MSN is really quite nice so far. I like their add/delete/arrange feature, so I’ll be giving it a try.
Thanks for sharing.
I preferred the more text based system. All these tiny little thumbs seem stupid. Then when you click on one it takes forever to load. I pretty much just use my favorites list anyway. Its nice to have a lot of different info packed on one MYMSN page like it was. We will hope we can still do that. Will you still need Silver Light?
I love it. It’s stylish and so easy to get around. Has so much more to offer. Keep it please.
I have been using MYMSN for years as my homepage and have found it very helpful. I like the ability to add “my favorites” for fast navigation to commonly used sites. I do not see the ability to have “My Favorites” to this new site, am I missing something?
hello i just want to say …………….. I like the new msn home page……thumbs up !!!
I get to the main page of MSN. I click on the segment I’m interested in. It appears onscreen. It has thumbnails at the bottom and an icon with some sort of button on the right. NO MATTER WHERE I CLICK, I can’t get it to move. What’s going on?
I highly dislike the new website.I enjoyed being able to look at a large variety of subjects the text based page allowed and then follow up on my interest. the new layout pretty much shoves one or two subjects in my face and requires lots of scrolling to find other subjects.I have switched to Igoogle although I like it less than the old msn homepage.
With the old layout I was able to fully customize my page so that I had no news displayed,only weather and my horoscope.Now I can’t get rid of any news articles,even after removing them through my settings.Please change it back to the old layout.
I completely agree with Sarah’s comment from 10/12/14. With the previous msn homepage I could customize what I want to see not what they want me to see.
Amen to all the complaints.
I can’t deal with the new layout, let alone have all my prior topical boxes unavailable.
Worse, I pay by the byte, and images/videos just don’t cut it unless I really want to see it by clicking through a headline.
I don’t know an alternative, but I wish I did, because it put all the things I’m interested in (NYTimes, Washington Post, stocks, humor, national news, AP, a list of my favorite links, etc.) in convenient little boxes.
Everything I’ve read says my prior layout/function is unavailable, regardless of any tweaks. This sucks.
Worst homepage ever…
So, has anyone discovered a simulacrum for the old my.msn.com? iGoogle died a long time ago, even if it would have done the trick…
Its been 4 months now and I still don’t care for the layout. Scroll,scroll,scroll………
Too Cramped with stuff no one wants to see. Too many clicks and scrolls to find same items I use to have on one page. Takes to much time The Money feature it seems also went down hill. Yes everything is still their (somewhere). The Old mymsn is much better than the new one.