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My Yahoo

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My Yahoo!
Developer(s)Yahoo
Initial releaseJuly 15, 1996; 28 years ago (1996-07-15)[1]
PlatformWeb browsers
TypeWeb Gadgets
Websitemy.yahoo.com

My Yahoo! was a start page or web portal that combined personalized Yahoo! features, content feeds, and information. The site was launched in 1996[2] and was one of the company's most popular creations.[3] It was discontinued in Dec. 2024.

Applications of My Yahoo

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A screenshot of (My)Yahoo! on February 18, 2004. Taken via the Wayback Machine.

My Yahoo’s purpose was to have users personalize their pages.[4]

The appearance, layout, and content of the main Yahoo homepage was standard, but My Yahoo offered customization.[5] On it, users could apply themes, add sites, add widgets, rearrange the layout, and add tabs to the page.[6]

A My Yahoo page allowed access to almost everything needed on one page. For example, applications and programs that allowed access to social networking, Lottery numbers, a mail aggregator, a news aggregator, gaming applications, etc...[7] The goal was to give people access to everything they were interested in on a single page.

Users were able to link to Yahoo! Answers.[8]

Provided the option to link Yahoo Local. Enabled local search capabilities.[9]

In 2011, they created a mobile app.[10]

In 2024, Yahoo! announced that My Yahoo! will be shut down and will be replaced with a new service without RSS feeds. The shutdown appears to have taken effect as of December 11, 2024.

RSS features

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  • Yahoo's personalized pages are less specialized than less popular sites. It is more stable[11]
  • It is also one of the fastest RSS readers.[12]
  • 52% of My Yahoo users are aware of RSS tools and 39% use RSS tools.[13]
  • Many websites had an “Add to My Yahoo” button to make adding an RSS feed to My Yahoo simpler.[14]

Criticism

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My Yahoo couldn't consolidate different feeds resulting in the need for multiple streams.

Since the September 2013 redesign, users had complained of numerous issues:

  1. Font size was too large and couldn't be changed
  2. Applications were less configurable
  3. Weather app used auto-locate instead of remembering a specified place
  4. Column resizing was no longer allowed
  5. Forced inclusion of a large Yahoo search bar

On 24 August 2017, many users reported that all RSS feeds stopped working.[15][16][17]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Yahoo! Inc. - Company Timeline". Wayback Machine. 2008-07-13. Archived from the original on 2008-07-13. Retrieved 2016-07-19.
  2. ^ "Yahoo! Inc. - Company Timeline". Wayback Machine. 2008-07-13. Archived from the original on 2008-07-13. Retrieved 2016-07-19.
  3. ^ Hansell, Saul (1999-10-31). "On My...yahoo; David Filo". The New York Times.
  4. ^ Kanalley, Craig (2013-02-21). "Yahoo Homepage Goes Social With Facebook-Personalized Streams". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2013-04-18.
  5. ^ "Difference between Yahoo! homepage and My Yahoo!". Yahoo. Retrieved 2014-04-13.
  6. ^ "Overview of My Yahoo". Yahoo. Retrieved 2014-04-13.
  7. ^ "My Yahoo! Blog". My Yahoo. Archived from the original on 2013-05-02. Retrieved 2013-04-18.
  8. ^ Marc (2007-07-07). "The Only 7 Things Yahoo Does Better than Google". Marc and Angel Hack Life. Retrieved 2013-04-18.
  9. ^ Marc (2007-07-07). "The Only 7 Things Yahoo Does Better than Google". Marc and Angel Hack Life. Retrieved 2013-04-18.
  10. ^ "My Yahoo! Blog". My Yahoo. Archived from the original on 2013-05-02. Retrieved 2013-04-18.
  11. ^ Nations, Daniel. "Using MyYahoo as an RSS Reader". About.com. Archived from the original on 2013-05-11. Retrieved 2013-04-18.
  12. ^ Nations, Daniel. "Using MyYahoo as an RSS Reader". About.com. Archived from the original on 2013-05-11. Retrieved 2013-04-18.
  13. ^ Grossnickle, Joshua. "RSS—Crossing into the Mainstream" (PDF). marketingsherpa.com. Retrieved 2013-04-18.
  14. ^ "QUICK TIPS: Quickly browse sites with MyYahoo!'s RSS parser (Mac OS X 10.1 and later)" (Document). PorQuest Computing. ProQuest 191126992.
  15. ^ "No RSS feeds loading". Yahoo! Help Coimmunity. Yahoo!. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
  16. ^ "RSS feeds not working: Forbes and Wired". Yahoo! Help Community. Yahoo!. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
  17. ^ "RSS Feeds". Yahoo! Help Community. Yahoo!. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
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