The BBC has unveiled its new-look bbc.co.uk website home page, promising users a greater level of customisation and other new features.
Launched in a beta format today to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the website, the new-look front can be accessed via a link on the current homepage.
The redesign marks the first stage of the rollout of new features aimed at what the BBC said was its plan to deliver a "reinvented" bbc.co.uk providing a "world-class on-demand user experience".
It will allow users to customise the range and detail of content, and is made up of moveable widgets to determine the layout of the page.
Each widget is also customisable so with the entertainment widget, users will be able to chose from the latest news from programmes including EastEnders and Doctor Who.
Users can also receive feeds from blogs produced across the BBC, ranging from Newsnight to BBC Radio 1's Chris Moyles, as well as localising news and weather feeds and dictating the number of headlines that appear. For the first time, users will also be able to listen to BBC Radio live directly from the homepage and browse BBC TV schedules. The BBC said the beta page marked the beginning of work that would culminate with all its online content being accessible from the bbc.co.uk homepage. The BBC internet controller, Tony Ageh, said: "These exciting developments mark an important stage in the work the BBC is doing to aggregate content more effectively and give users more control over how they experience bbc.co.uk. "Enabling users to organise components of the homepage around the subjects that are most important to them increases its value and relevance, while still remaining a powerful expression of the BBC on the internet."
In a blog on the new homepage, BBC acting head of user experience and design, Richard Titus, described the new look as a "lick of paint" which he said was "simple, clean and beautiful".
The new home page also features a "BBC1 analogue clock" in the top right-hand corner.
Titus added that this was originally punted as a "bit of fun", but which feedback found was seen as an "homage to the 'golden days' of analogue programming" and "bizarrely reassuring".
He said that by taking a "collaborative and flexible approach", it had taken just three months for the new home page to come to fruition.
Most comments on the blog were positive, although criticisms included the widget headings being "too chunky".
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