Why i didn’t like the new Facebook redesign?
Now, lately Facebook has been releasing new features at a furious pace. (A lot of them blatant Copycats from Google+ like the FB Lists, Subscribe feature, etc). But I can’t complain, because Google+ itself is heavily inspired from Facebook.
But today, Facebook launched a major interface Redesign. And I am disappointed. From a usability standpoint, there are few things that immediately caught my eye. Tell me in the comments below, if you noticed them before, and do they really affect you at all.
Facebook Redesign – An Organized Mess
Mess no.1 – Swapped Home and Profile Buttons
Notice, the position of the Home and the Profile tab has been swapped for some reason. Everytime, I tried to navigate to the Homepage, I had to readjust to click on the right link, since I was habituated to the earlier layout. In terms of usability, this is a horrible change. Why completely reverse the earlier behavior?
Also, if you look at web standards, Home is generally the left-most link. This new layout makes no sense to me.
Mess no.2 – Where’s my “What’s on your mind box”?
Now, isn’t Facebook meant to make to easier for people to share whats on their mind? Hence, it made sense to have this box available readily to the users on the Homepage. Now facebook radically decides to hide this box, only to make it appear if you click the “Update Status” link.
Just making things more difficult.
Mess no. 3 – The Jumping Ticker Box
The worst of the package is the new Ticker. In terms of usability, when you start scrolling the page, the ticker scrolls for some time, become static after a point, disillusioning the user. Try it out!! I personally am no fan of static elements on a page. They just break the flow of a page, and make it more confusing.
Now, try enabling Chat. The Ticker “magically” jumps to the right of the page and gets fitted on top of the chat window. WHY, I ask?
Final Thoughts
The new layout adds too many options and makes things a tad too complicated. My “ohh-so-simple” feed is now split into Top Stories, Recent Stories and the Ticker. Where should I look for what?
A major userbase of Facebook are the mom-and-pop accounts. I am not sure how easy will it be for them to get used to this new design. Your views?
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supervipul on September 22nd 2011 in General
Jay responded on 22 Sep 2011 at 10:15 pm #
good analysis. Seems that you are avid user of Facebook. All the three points you make are so true.
Heeral responded on 22 Sep 2011 at 11:19 pm #
Its not about the new design, its about change. People all over the world have always been resistant to change. Its not that the new design is bad. Its because ppl take time to get used to say the swap between the home and the profile tab
Zeeshan Kazi responded on 25 Sep 2011 at 10:18 pm #
So.. I would say, no matter how radical changes Facebook makes to it’s layout, people are not going to switch to other social networks and abandon Facebook.. No.It’s about not making the Facebook experience monotonous and boring, one way to keep people talking is changing layouts!
Ultimately it just grows on the user in a few days and everyone gets habituated again. We have to agree, social networks CAN NOT be drastically different than one another in terms of structure and application.Competitors can not match up with facebook because it has built the industry int o what it is today.
Sanjna Dhamejani responded on 01 Oct 2011 at 8:59 pm #
The new Fb is a bit irritating but the cover and the enlargement of pics is simply appreciated..
The home thingi is not so noticeable..
Yup but the status update and new ticker just makes me sick!
Ssly not joking!
And hey keep it up with your blog!
(y)
Sanjna Dhamejani responded on 01 Oct 2011 at 8:59 pm #
*are