Yahoo Puts Ajax to Good Use on Redesigned Photo Sites

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Friday, June 9, 2006; 01:58 AM

Yahoo! Photos unveiled a redesigned "photo sharing experience" with the launch of a limited beta new version of the website (http://photos.yahoo.com).  This marks the most significant upgrade to the product since Yahoo initially launched the service in 2000. The new design aims to make it easier for people to enjoy and share their large photo collections with family and friends via Ajax desktop-like functionality including drag-and-drop organization, tagging, comments and advanced search capabilities.

"The new Yahoo! Photos is a next generation service that introduces innovations from across the Yahoo! network -- like tagging, search, and comments -- to a mainstream audience of thirty million and counting," said Brad Garlinghouse, Yahoo!'s senior vice president of communications, community and front doors. "The new Yahoo! Photos will change the way millions of people enjoy their pictures. The new features and redesigned interface make photo management more efficient so people spend less time maintaining their collections and more time viewing and sharing them with family and friends."

New community-based features foster user interaction in new ways, including the ability to comment, rate and tag family and friends' photos. People can now exchange comments on shared pictures, add tags to help organize each other's photos, and rate them for simple searching. Also, integration across the Yahoo! network, including Yahoo! Mail, Messenger, Mobile and 360, gives users a universally accessible location where they can view photos that family and friends have shared.

Product highlights include:

-- Drag-and-drop functionality for easy organization and photo sharing

-- Photo tagging -- or labeling -- for easy viewing and searching

-- Enhanced interaction with friends and family with ability to share comments and provide instantaneous access to photos

-- Point-and-click tag and caption editing

-- Smart Albums that detect newly tagged photos and automatically add tagged photos to albums

-- Open APIs to encourage third-party use and collaboration

-- Integration with leading Yahoo! services, including Yahoo! Mail, Messenger, Mobile and 360

-- Downloadable high-resolution photos

The Yahoo! Photos beta is currently in a testing phase, available to a limited group of U.S. Yahoo! Photos users. Users worldwide will be admitted into the beta in the coming months.