The BBC's new home page has recently come out of beta and is available for all to see. It's great to see an organisation like the BBC moving forward with this approach but I think it raises some questions:

1. It's interesting to note which elements are customisable and which are not, most notably the large banner area near the top right hand corner of the page.

2. Whilst you can choose which news feeds you view, you can't sort them in any meaningful way - I'd like to see this in a future release.

3. The BBC iPlayer widget seems redundant (on my poor Mac at any rate)

4. It is good to see search so prominently placed in the middle of the top navigation bar.

5. As potential downside to this approach: does it set users' expectations too high about the rest of the site? Click on any link and you leave the whizzy customisable home page for a distinctly non-customisable destination.

Updating a site of this size is like painting the Forth Bridge (using old-fashioned paint) and it will never be completely uniform in terms of features and design, but I think it raises an interesting question of how much a home page should set the tone of all following pages.

Finally, as an old person I welcome the 1970s clock in the right hand corner. Completely unnecessary, a whimsical indulgence - but let's hope the web always has room for these. I'm now waiting for the test card girl to make another appearance - as long as it's not the scary one from Life on Mars...