Technorati has announced the launch of a public beta of a major redesign available here.

According to David Sifry the new design has an improved user experience, making Technorati accessible to more people and people who are new to blogging. There’s be an extension of tags into search, as well as expansion of the tag functionality. The full list of features is available here.

First impressions: its a lot quicker, mainly because an initial link search only brings up new links as opposed to the whole lot, although the link counter issue, where its not constantly updated, seems to remain. The fabbled Technorati rank is now visible for each link search, and Ive got 190 places to go before the Blog Herald makes the top 100 blogs. The green is a bit bright, but the page has a nice, modern feel to it. Some of the features weren’t working when I tested the site, for example the full link list didn’t come up. The feedback form didn’t submit either, but the again it is a beta test afterall. Good things ahead by the look of it.