Amazon.com Changes its User Interface
It looks like Amazon.com has rationalized the number of index tabs appearing in the header of their home page. Up until recently, they had placed an index tab at the top of their home page for each major section of their on-line store. A review of the Google Cache page for Amazon.com's home page indicates that it had 15 index tabs.
Now, the Amazon home page has a total of two index tabs, "Welcome" and "Directory". A additional tab is displayed when you drill down into a store (their term for a major section of their site). In addition, they have added a set of buttons labeled "Today's featured stores" in the area that used to contain index tabs.
It is not clear if this is an improvement over their previous design, but we will keep a close eye on the site now that we have noticed the change. Amazon.com pioneered a lot of Web user interface design techniques that are used throughout the Internet today, so when they change their interface to this extent, it is worth analyzing.