BBC tests new homepage

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You can now try a public beta version of the BBC's new homepage – with playable iPlayer highlights, but without clock
The BBC gave its web users a chance to try its new homepage today. It will stay as a public beta for a while to get feedback, and test some more features – and can be accessed by a link in the top of the old homepage or here.
Apart from removing its top-of-page clock to make room for central navigation above the top stories, the new design puts more emphasis on a visual multi-media approach and allows for further personalisation.
To showcase more top stories, the new homepage displays them in a automatically changing carousel. A new horizontal navigation bar above them offers news, sport, weather, iPlayer, TV, radio and a "More"-button for all other requests.
Otherwise the structure of the homepage stays basically the same, but with more emphasis on pictures and videos. BBC iPlayer highlights can now be browsed from within the homepage, and it will introduce a new Media Zone to showcase its range of content, which will be unveiled when a user navigates the mouse over the thumbnails.
You can also follow your interests through a new Topic Tracker section. But you'll need to put in your settings afresh if you personalised the old site, because the back end has changed.
The new design was developed in a collaboration with the graphic designer Neville Brody, whose Research Studios has worked closely with the BBC in the past couple of months; we had a first glimpse of the results a few weeks ago.
BBC sources have told MediaGuardian that the new-look site is supposed to fully launch by the end of March, but there might be some delays: this is a big project. The BBC has currently about 400 top-level domains, although it's meant to drop half of these by 2012, with its £135m budget due to come down a quarter by 2013.

• BBC
• Digital media

Mercedes Bunz

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