Facebook celebrated it?s 6th birthday in style?by launching a redesign of the home page.? I was excited to be included in the initial 80 million accounts that were updated with the design on February 4th. This new layout is being rolled out to the remaining Facebook users now (Reggie’s still waiting).
I have to say I?ve been a bit annoyed with some of the recent minor changes made by Facebook, but when it comes to this new overhaul?I?m a fan! Most notably, are the cleaner home page appearance and the removal of the bottom ?start? bar. The search bar is now prominently displayed in the top center of the home page, just above the News Feed. And the top blue navigation bar has been simplified to include just a few key quick launch links on the left and right sides.
Now just in case you are a tad turned around by this new layout, I put together a quick list of 10 tips for getting reacquainted with the network you know and love!
(1)?? Quick Launch Notifications ? Located in the upper left, gain quick access to your most recent notifications.? I?ve been using and enjoying the notifications feature more and more lately. I find it helpful in keeping track of who?s interacting with me, as well as to easily navigate back to conversations I?m participating in.
(2)?? Quick Launch Friend Request ? Now the old ?friend requests? link is still available in the upper right. But this new quick launch button in the upper left provides a drop down menu to scan recent friend requests. You can also click through to your ?friend request dashboard? for a full view.
(3)?? Quick Launch Messages ? The ?inbox? link has been removed from the navigation bar. Now you can access your messages 2 ways from the home page. Either select ?messages? from the left sidebar navigation or my preferred channel?the new messages quick button in the upper left. A simplified drop down menu will appear, allowing you to scan your recent messages, respond back, and even quickly send a new message.
(4)?? Left Sidebar Navigation ? The removal of the bottom navigation bar (or start bar) was a good move! I don?t know about you, but I rarely used it. Now, we have a more organized left sidebar to navigate events, photos, friends, games, applications, ads & pages, groups, marketplace, etc.
(5)?? Friend Filtering – Upon first glance you might miss noticing where to access and navigate ?lists? you created to filter your friends in the New Feed. This is probably one of the most important features Facebook offers as it provides an organized and consistent approach to engaging with key friends in your network. To filter the News Feed via your lists, select the ?Friends? link in the left sidebar and the ?Friends? dashboard will appear. You will then be able to select from your created friend lists in the left sidebar under the main ?Friends? heading.
(6)?? Applications & Games Dashboards ? You can select and view these new dashboards from the left sidebar. Both provide an overview of your friends? recent game and/or application activity. This is nice new way to see and connect with other friends playing the same game, or better yet, who is utilizing an app that you may also find helpful.
(7)?? Revised Chat ? Now moved to the left, similar in functionality and a right bottom bar remains to keep the conversation flowing.
(8)?? Simplified News Feed ? Well, it?s actually pretty similar to it?s predecessor, but the options have been more clearly stated: ?Top News? and ?Most Recent?.
(9)?? Updated Account Menu ? Still a link in the upper right, but the menu of options has been expanded to include ?Edit Friends?, ?Credits Balance?, and ?Logout? in addition to the various privacy, account, and application settings.
(10)?? Rebuilt Photo Uploader ? Next time you upload a photo, you?ll not only have the option to browse from your computer (which by the way provides a more robust navigation interface) but you?ll also be able to create and use a custom email for uploading (similar to Posterous).
MyTechOpinion ? I give the new Facebook layout 2 thumbs up! After playing around with it for a few days, I?m impressed with the quicker speed at which I can interact, message, and share. And, the home page interface is much cleaner without the cluttering of repetitive feature links and bars. But that?s my opinion?what?s yours?
I hope they are still working out bugs. My custom friend feeds have been missing lots of updates and I wish I did not have to go one click further to get to them.
I feel you! I actually read the Mashable post before exploring the new layout which stated they didn't see an option for filtering friends….and thought it was left out altogether. But once I figured out where to look I was also a bit disappointed about the extra click. It definitely would be nice to select our lists from the main left sidebar navigation.
I totally agree…this new facbook layout is soo confusing. I cannot see my friend's posts anymore, I can to go that particular friend and access their page….Ugh….
The new Facebook layout does not have applications feed filtering and filtering is less customizable than in the previous one, that is a huge setback.
It's true, major changes were made to the location and orientation of the filters. FB's creation of the apps & games dashboards act as the replacement for what your referring to. But I don't see this as a huge setback. For me, the experience of viewing my network's interactions with apps is more holistic because I can view specifics over time as well as most recently. In addition, the aggregate view of other applications my network is using is very helpful for uncovering apps you might not already know about.
Actually Alaa is right, the new facebook does not have customizable feeds, or application specific feeds. The only thing the dashbord seems to give are the names of the applications that you or your friends are using. This is a turnoff for me as it means the main news feed is gonna get clogged up and it will be hard to see the news that you want to see, kinda hard to separate groups of friends as well.
I would stick with the old layout if i could to be honest, more organized.
[…] 10 Tips for Getting Reacquainted with Facebook?s New Layout […]
That additional click to get to my Friend Lists is pretty much a dealkiller for me.
I had the list of my "special friends" set as my default newsfeed. The ability to set a particular Friend List as the default news feed seems to have been removed. 🙁
That is a bummer. I've found that I have way too many lists to set one as a default…that's just me. BTW- You could go the hacker route, and just select the list you prefer in the News Feed, and then set it as a bookmark in your browser.
What happened to the Family link the one that lets you fill in your family tree?
Should be in your "applications" dashboard. 🙂
10 Tips for Getting Reacquainted with Facebook's New Layout http://tinyurl.com/yexpudm
Does a Fan Page update still appear in the activity stream? Usually when I post a few things on one of my fan pages, I at least get some interaction from the few thousand members. Now, when I click recent news, it doesn't populate.
Am I missing something or is it just me?
Your Fan Page posts should be aggregated in the "Most Recent" section of the News Feed. Because that feed happens in real time it may be hit and miss with interaction.
The only real problem I have is with the notifications alert being at the top. If you've scrolled down you don't see it! That's a serious usability problem in my opinion since you have to scroll to read the wall.
Funny, I don't think I heard from anybody that FB was broken. I did hear after the new page was delivered there was a spike in Status Update complaining about the new format. Thanks for the post though, it causes me to pick up ideas on how to use it best that I can share with others.
Some of the new updates are defintley great and more convenient but I really don't understand why FB wants to force the News Feeds on us. It's enough to keep up with that status updates, do I really really want to know on a constant basis all of the other actions my friends are doing? At least we use to have the option of leaving it or changing the Status Updates to our Home page, now we're stuck with the extra click. It's really causing me to lose a bit of interest.
The News Feed is great for Pages so maybe if they just allowed us to customize what information we want to see in our news feed it would be more useful.
Not a fan but thanks for some good info………
Left Sidebar Navigation not present! Looks great in your post, and I'd love to access it too. Checked my settings and there doesn't appear to be a place to turn that on or off. Any thoughts?
Improvement opportunities:
1) Add a count to friends lists, I'd like to know how many friends I have in each of my lists!
2) Use alphabetical order on all friend and people lists – its not consistent between friend lists, event lists, group lists, fan page lists, etc.!
3) This is an app upgrade – fix the birthday calendar listing/email functionality!! I have a workaround, however it is a workaround. It used to be much simpler and reliable with a weekly email landing with who's celebrating that week.
Sorry if this became a rant!
Facebook keeps changing it's layout… and I keep getting confused. Why not just leave it "as is"???
Why did the move the option to message your fans? Where is this? I don't see it anymore.
I want to share with you guys a book I just got is called “REO BOOM” I’m new to real estate and this book has helped me understand how reo’s work and what I need to do to become a successful REO agent. =)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/books/2651/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_b_1_4_last
[…] 10 Tips for Getting Reacquainted with Facebook?s New Layout […]
[…] Read all 10 tips here. […]