theregoesdave

We launched the new myAOL products in Beta in the middle of July and I wanted to give my thoughts after having spent some time with each of them.

First is the myAOL page, your customized portal page. It allows you to add AOL modules or Google gadgets to your portal site easily and with virtually no lag in the drag and drop functionality. This is a critical point in the overall usability of the tool. Allowing users to add Google modules also greatly increases the ability to customize your page. The only drawback that I noticed in this portion is that it includes an immovable ad at the top of the third column.

Next is the Favorites application, which functions both as a feed reader and bookmarking tool. I toyed with using it for feeds by adding in some of my favorite blog feeds. It was relatively easy to use, though it could have possibly included a search function to make it a touch easier. The disappointing part of the feed reader was a noticeable lag in adding the feed to your favorites. This is likely due to having to parse the rss, sort it against the other feeds’ time lines, and process any included pictures.

Lastly is the Mgnet application, which is fairly novel and fun to play with. Mgnet opens with a collage of pictures that the user click to teach the tool their favorite topics. Then Mgnet begins displaying content based on these preferences to provide news that they might be interested in. You can also continue training the tool using thumbs up and thumbs down buttons under each story. Once you’ve shared your preferences on those storied, you can ask for more stories to match your interests. Overall, this is a neat tool to play with. I think it has huge potential to integrate a metacafe type of experience by broadening the content from strictly news and including richer media for users.

Overall, I’m pretty impressed with the myAOL suite. The clean and responsive interfaces display the new commitment to usability that I am very excited to see is becoming ingrained in the AOL culture.

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