Facebook has been busy over the last several months working on a new look for the site. While it hasn’t been implemented for users yet, developers have been able to take a test drive of it in the past few months. Click on any of the pictures to view them full-size.
This is what the new profile page looks like. The first obvious thing is that they’ve removed the sidebar, and moved that functionality to the top bar.
Also evident are the new inline editing features. You can now write notes, upload images and videos, and edit posted items right from your profile page, without having to visit the individual application pages. This is a nice touch, and I think it adds some function without appearing cluttered. The rest of the page, however, does look cluttered. They’re trying to present far too much information on a single page. The biggest clutter is of course the mini feed, especially in combination with posted items. They’re far too large, and there are far too many of them. The mini feed should be just that – mini. It should be limited to a maximum of the 10 most recent articles of activity. It’s hopeless.
The functionality that used to be present in the sidebar has now been moved to the top in the form of an Applications menu. It’s handy, but it shows applications I didn’t even know I had. I don’t know what that’s about. The best part about the redesign, however, is the moving of all non-Facebook-created applications to their own dedicated page. At the moment, it’s called “Boxes”, and I could not possibly tell you why. 
This is a wise move, because all too many of my friends have 100+ applications installed, making the load times for their pages agonizing, and attempts to find their wall prove fruitless. This is a much better solution, save for the wording. If they call it “Applications” everywhere else and “Boxes” in the tabs, it’s confusing. Anyone with a first level of UI design knowledge will say the same.
Other little tweaks include a new video player, and the moving of the search box to the top bar. Check out screenshots in the gallery at the bottom.
All-in-all, I think that this redesign is well-deserved and looks fantastic. I can’t wait until some of the bugs are squashed and it’s finally released.
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