Facebook is in the midst of testing a new iteration of the site homepage, and earlier today, One thing that immediately stood out to me is the elimination of “Log Out” button, which I guess is not frequently used links, or just something that the company wants to de-emphasize. Chat link has also continued to appear in the bottom right corner, but the site “toolbar” does not take the entire footer.
Many of the design is not really a surprise to anyone who has followed the changes to the developer road map which is updated by Facebook. Also we see that there are no skyscrapers in the sidebar ads, something that we’ve heard Facebook eliminate entirely, choosing to generate 100 percent of their income from their internal advertising system. We are not sure if this happens to be coincidence that no skyscraper ads, or that the new design, in fact, will mark the abolition of third-party advertising on Facebook.
Here are some of the changes:
- The navigation bar is reorganized, and thankfully, it seems like Facebook is removing the duplicate profile link. The name and profile links didn’t make much sense to begin with.
- The search field is now next to the Facebook logo, a clear sign that the company wants search to play a major role in the future. Searches for brands, events, companies and celebrities will be more prominent.
- By combining settings and login in an all-purpose “account” dropdown, Facebook is making the overall experience cleaner.
- The sidebar is scaled down and takes a lot of cues from Facebook Lite. In fact, the new design takes inspiration from Facebook Lite in the way News Feed, Friends, Events and Photos are displayed.
- Bookmarks is a smart way for users to add links to their favorite applications, fan pages or whatever.
- Facebook IM is still firmly ensconced at the bottom right, but app quick links and notifications are gone.
