Following in Google's [Searchmash footsteps][1], Yahoo has released a beta version of an [Ajax-based search service][2] dubbed "Alpha." Alpha integrates normal web search results with other search "modules." Alpha's default modules include searches of other Yahoo offerings like Flickr, Yahoo News and Yahoo Answers as well as YouTube and Wikipedia. 

If you login to a Yahoo account, Alpha can be customized to use any search module you'd like to create. I tried to create a Wired search module but I couldn't get it to work. However, Alpha had no trouble creating modules to search the BBC and NPR.

All the module results are displayed in collapsable panes on the right side of the results page. By default all the panes are collapsed, but once you open one, Alpha remembers the setting and keeps it open on subsequent searches.

Surprisingly, even sponsored results are relegated to a side pane and thus collapsed and out of view by default. It's a nice touch for users wanting to avoid ads, but seems unlikely to do much for Yahoo's revenue stream.

While Alpha looks and functions nearly identically to Searchmash, I found the user interface to be slightly better looking, which might be the first time I've ever preferred a Yahoo UI design to one from Google.

One small detail that Searchmash lacks which makes the Yahoo offer superior in my view, is the ability to thumb through auxiliary results without reloading the page. 

In the case of Searchmash, by default you get six image results and to see more you need to click a link that will reload the page with the image results in the main column. 

Yahoo's Alpha on the other hand provides a nice link to keep paging through the image pane without reloading the page -- Ajax the way it should be. And similar links exist for all the auxiliary search panes.

While Searchmash is somewhat faster at returning results, Alpha is by no means slow.

As with Searchmash there's no telling whether these features will ever make it to Yahoo's main search page, but in the mean time if you're a heavy user of Yahoo's search tools you'll definitely want to check out Alpha.

[1]: http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2006/11/searchmash_a_ne.html "Searchmash: A New Google Search UI"
[2]: http://au.alpha.yahoo.com/ "Yahoo Alpha"