Goodyear Web Site Gets Needed New Look

AKRON, Ohio, March 25 -- A new look for the goodyear.com Web site has been unveiled as the world's largest tiremaker's redesigned homepage made its Internet debut.

According to Pamela J. Cole, Goodyear's manager, Web site operations, the homepage was redesigned for several reasons.

``We wanted to create a visually more exciting and flexible page that also offers greater usability for our visitors from around the world, as well as increased ease of navigation,'' she said. ``Goodyear's global business units will be able to better feature new products, innovative services and other important announcements.''

New features of the homepage include:

``Mouse-overs,'' which are changes that occur on the site when a user moves a mouse pointer over text or graphics. As users scroll over the main text links, Goodyear-related photos change on the left-hand side of the page. A message center at the bottom right-hand corner of the page. Cole said this area will be used as a marketing tool for the company. In certain instances, users can click on the photo or headline text to get more information about the item listed. The background tire graphic randomly changes whenever the homepage is reloaded. Currently, four different tires are featured from Goodyear's European Union, Latin American and North American Tire businesses. The country navigation bar on the upper right-hand side, Cole said, will still allow visitors who are shopping for tires to jump to specific country Web sites. ``As tire information is country-specific, this is where consumers can get more details on tire offerings available in each of Goodyear's global business regions,'' she said.

``Deployment of this new homepage is another step in the process of creating an integrated Goodyear global Internet presence,'' said Nathaniel E. Leonard, Goodyear's global director, e-commerce.

Goodyear is the world's largest tire company. Headquartered in Akron, Ohio, the company manufactures tires, engineered rubber products and chemicals in more than 90 facilities in 28 countries. It has marketing operations in almost every country around the world. Goodyear employs about 96,000 people worldwide.