The SFGate article, “Yahoo expected to cut hundreds of jobs” got me thinking about the evolution of Yahoo from a search engine to a web portal. I still remember that awful grey background Yahoo originally used. Then sometime between Yahoo’s plan to become a one stop web portal and the rise of Google, Yahoo’s popularity dropped off the radar.

I remember I use to use Yahoo’s search engine exclusively as well as their free mail system. But, the search results they displayed had more sponsored links than actual links and their mail system did not block spam as efficiently as in the past. Overtime, I drifted over to Google’s search engine. Now, I mainly use Yahoo for their sports site to keep up with local teams and to play the fantasy sports games. I believe I am in the lead in a public fantasy basketball league. w00t!

I like to see Yahoo fix their support for Firefox and Opera. I use those two browsers almost exclusively and it looks bad on the company when the layout is all fugged up with some ajax features not working correctly. Of coure, 70% of the world is probably still using Internet Explorer, so I understand if that is not high on their to-fix list.

Another thing they could do is foster more of a family-friendly community or at least moderate some of the comments to the articles posted. I remember an article about a family getting stuck in the snow and the father died trying to go for help. A good majority of the comments made disparaging remarks at the father and his family. If I had a kid, I wouldn’t want them visiting Yahoo for news.

Yahoo is no longer a hip start-up company. Yahoo has already been around for more than a decade. They’ve built up an image as a tech-smart business and news site. Their new glitzy additions detract from this image and causes more harm than gain. They should realize who they are brand-wise and continue to build on the main aspect of their business–becoming the top news distribution organization on the Internet.