Yahoo will make changes to several popular sections of its website as well as the main page in the coming months as part of an effort to further open up the portal to outside publishers.

The changes mark the first big additions since a major redesign in 2006. Most notably, the changes will allow for users to place widgets from outside producers on Yahoo's homepage.

As an example, Ash Patel, EVP of the company's audience product division, pointed to a new application that lets Yahoo visitors who are Netflix customers add to their queue from Yahoo's homepage. The company also plans to open up its music offerings to Apple's iTunes and Amazon.

Yahoo's move mimics an announcement made earlier this week by AOL, which is also in the midst of a redesign that will knock down the walls to the rest of the web.

Meanwhile, Yahoo's plan to outsource its search advertising business to rival Google isn't going smoothly. Both companies have become locked up in a growing regulatory mess that has some in Washington calling Google a monopoly.