screenshot for those who can't see it: http://i.imgur.com/KMcfc.png

the left hand menus are mouse-driven hover menus (how 1997!)

edit: ugh, and you actually have to click the text - clicking the white background near the text doesn't work. I hate it when menus do that!

edit2: another screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/e58gx.png

Also, being hover driven, you have to carefully stay on the hovered item and horizontally move to the pop-out menu instead of moving diagonally. Kind of infuriating, to be honest.

Strangely, I like the Barnes & Noble and Wal-Mart sites better...how did this happen?

http://www.barnesandnoble.com

http://www.walmart.com

Perhaps because they're simpler. You'd expect that to work better if the test is how nice a site looks rather than how well it converts.

I could not find a proof but I remember reading that they tried to simplify site a number of times but these changes lead to reduced revenue.

ul.nav li a { float: left; line-height: 20px; padding: 0 10px; }

ninjas { visibility: hidden; }

Amazon does so much A/B testing that I've grown accustomed to it never looking the same between visits.

Well, then, looks like they may be testing a new theme. Mine looks like this when I'm logged in: http://d.pr/hYJe and http://d.pr/TlLA. Menus are redesigned, fonts look larger throughout much of the interface. But, I just opened it in a new Incognito window without logging in, and it looks the same as always: http://d.pr/aY1R. Here's to hoping they keep the new theme!

Looks like work-in-progress. Their HTML is a mess, and the homepage doesn't even have a title tag.

Amazing how little that matters when you're making billions of dollars.

I bet that the next time I go on Amazon, the pages I visit will still consist mostly of what are essentially advertisements whose main effect is to distract me from my reason for going on the site, and I bet that information I consider very relevant, like the year of of the publication of a book, will still be very hard to find amidst the visual clutter.

> distract me from...

Funny: I do so much research on Amz that I am accustomed to zeroing in on just info I really want - with the result that I can browse for months without noting new features (treasure chest buttons, etc).

Looks the same to me?

Yeah. Same here as well. Google-esque slow roll?

We don't know. Does it?

They have also added a new "Like" button to the product pages, that no one seems to have noticed... Screenshots : http://twitpic.com/34gozu and http://twitpic.com/34gob6

This whole white theme might come from the same team that make new imdb.com re-design.

For me it is too white, as with the imdb, the eye cannot distinguish items easily because it does not hang to visual elements.

Interesting to see that they have dropped most of the blue/orange color shades which has been synonymous with the brand. Definitely, this is a welcome change and the site looks better.

I like it, a well needed refresh. Wonder when its going to make its way to amazon.co.uk