Facebook has a new face

The revamp of the social networking website Facebook saw many angered users and soon after forums devoted to savaging the new Facebook format have surfaced on the website and have thousands of members.

The new design lets Facebook members use tabs to give priority to fresh pictures, messages, or "feeds" on main profile pages and compartmentalise mini-applications and "static" information such as curriculum vitae. Despite the outrage from the users, Facebook maintains that their decision is a beneficial one in the long run as it makes Facebook a faster, livelier and better organised social networking website while giving people more control over software applications they opt to install.

The new facebook layout

Its creator Mark Zuckerberg, claimed that the changes were done for the better, while conceding that not everyone will agree with them. He was spot on. The change in layout resulted in a furore, a flurry of complaints and even a mini-revolt by the sites users. Many users were not happy, claiming that the new design and layout was confusing, less organised and had too much white space, among other things (Fulton, 2008).

I personally back Facebook up with their decision for a layout revamp as In any document, the readers do not just read the words; they also ‘read’ the visual presentation and layout of the text. The design is there to guide readers, make it more interesting for them and to present an overall identity of the document (Reep, 2006)

References:
1. Fulton, S.M. III, 2008, Facebook users unite in outrage over changed layout, Onekit.com Software Magazine. Viewed on 28th October 2008 at

2. Reep, Diana C. 2006, ‘Chp 4: Principles of Document Design,’ in Technical Writing, 6th ed., Pearson Edu, Inc., New York, p.173-190.