Facebook Profile Redesign Getting Closer
3 Comments Published by Rodney Rumford May 21st, 2008 in Facebook, Facebook Applications.
Facebook has been talking about doing a redesign of the Profile pages for quite some time. Initially we thought these changes were supposed to roll live in April, but facebook went back to the drawing board after some feedback was sent their way by users and developers.
We got our first peek at these “new new” profile page designs. This looks like quite a bit of change to our eyes. NAVIGATIONAL CHANGES… not simple design changes. This seriously impacts users interaction and ingrained behaviors. I question the need to redesign the site in such a radical way. People are creatures of habit and this is a serious change that will cause rumbles (some positive, some not), as user that live on the site are used to navigating the site in a very specific way.
We will keep my fingers crossed that the new design is actually easier for users. 
It is hard to tell from mock ups and until you actually drive the site to determine if it is better or worse (or more efficient). The good news here is that if the new design changes have the desired effect, users will be pleased.
More details will be forthcoming this morning at 10am. Here are the changes as we know them to be. Links to the core Facebook features will live at the top of your page, instead of being split between the top and the side.
According to facebook: “If you click on the ‘Applications’ link at the top, a drop down menu of your applications will appear. We have organized this into a ‘Bookmarks’ section (in which you can add your favorite applications) and a ‘Recent Applications’ section (which includes the applications you have used most recently).
While you will be able to access your applications elsewhere (if you choose to put a profile box on the ‘Applications’ tab, or if you choose to put an application in its own tab), the dropdown at the top will allow you to access any of your applications from one place.”
Outlined Design & Navigation Changes:
Navigation Design Changes: Header Apps. Notice all that white space to the left and right of app canvas pages? I strongly suspect that they are creating real estate for ad serving on canvas pages (for themselves and not app owners). You heard it here first.
Facebook Profile Design: Feed
Facebook Wall Design
Facebook Apps
Facebook Photos
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I have a feeling that certain tabs will be ignored by the vast majority of users. I for one cannot see myself clicking on someone else’s applications tab. Especially because so many of them are not very interactive.
Almost anything that groups like things together will be a welcome respite from the confusion and clutter of the facebook current mess. The ‘search by scroll’ madness must stop. The Wall-To-Wall feature is/was a great innovation, and other things in that vein are needed. I’d like to see more innovation around ‘smart’ abilities to adapt the display of friends’ pages based on what *I* view on my friends’ pages, not based on how *they* choose to display them…
now THAT would be useful and save time. Hey, it’s just content… give me the equivalent of a CSS formatting cookie on my machine just unique to each friend. Joy.
I have an intense, passionate hatred of this new profile redesign. Facebook has got to understand that there are O.C.D. people like me who have to have everything laid out on their computer screen in a neat, orderly, and absolutely perfect manner, otherwise, they will become ANGRY!!!!
This may have to be goodbye Facebook for me. Seeing pictures of this redesign made me feel like having a seizure and I almost broke my keyboard. I can hardly stand looking at it.