I asked Bing homepage editorial director Stephanie Horstmanshof to explain it to me: What is the recognizable quality of a Bing homepage photo that makes it Bing-worthy?
"There are three things we look for," she told me over the phone. "A sense of exploration, a sense of discovery, and a sense of delight. It should make you want to know more about it."
Portions of each page are interactive, so that you can roll over the photo for more information about the photo. Not every0ne likes the feature, but Horstmanshof says there's at least one schoolteacher who browses the new homepage with her class every morning.
You can browse an archive of Bing homepages at fan site binghomepages.com
Bing homepages are chosen at a biweekly team meeting. It's hard to explain what makes a photo Bing-ish, but the site has developed a signature look: Photos of exotic locations, with startlingly vivid colors, plus a rich level of detail that seems impossible on a computer screen.
To prevent the images from slowing down users with slow Internet connections, Bing is programmed to load its search interface first, and then fetch the homepage image.
Most of the images aren't from within the United States. "We are U.S. based but not U.S.-centric, so we try to show people someplace they don't know." Horstmanshof said. "Even if it's within the U.S., we try to give them something that's different."