Los Angeles — In an attempt to make the space look more appealing, social networking giant Facebook is testing out a new, slimmer format for user Timelines, which will feature all posts in a single column on the left and any activity modules in a narrow column on the right.
According to the Inside Facebook, which first noticed the change said, the social media hub is currently carrying out the tests with a small number of users.
“This is a new design Facebook is testing with a small number of people to make navigating timeline even easier,” a Facebook spokeswoman informed CNET.
(Credit: Inside Facebook)
Timeline currently appears in a two column layout with posts on both sides, forcing users to zig-zag between them as they scroll down the page. In fact, the timeline would still be divided into two columns, but all of your status updates, photos, and other items posted to your timeline would be featured in a wide column on the left. Elements like “photos,” “friends,” “likes,” and any open-graph apps like Spotify and Instagram would appear in a narrower column on the right.
Besides, this latest format addresses one of the common complaints about the new profile: users previously had to shuffle back and forth on the page as they scrolled through to read their stream. Some users found the two-column layout frustrating. With this design, the line down the center has been removed, making the profile look less like a timeline. However, the timeline of dates still exists in the top right of the page to jump to a particular month or year.
On the other hand, the latest timeline does away with this approach, replacing it with a single column of posts. In this test, the publisher and all posts beneath it have gotten wider. On the right hand side, when there are no more components to show, the Timeline appears blank and does not fill with status updates or wall posts.
As a matter of fact, the difference in this design is that these components are no longer the same size as posts, and when there are no more modules to show, the Timeline appears blank rather than filling in with status updates or wall posts.
(Credit: Inside Facebook)
The social media outfit does confirmed that it is testing this design with a small percentage of users but did not offer any additional information.
When Facebook forced its current Timeline onto users in August, it prompted mixed reviews from users, with some hating the change. But really, any changes to the social network’s design seem to send folks into a frenzy.
A Page called “I hate FB Timeline, and want to disable it ASAP” has garnered more than 26,000 likes since it was created in December last year.
Finally, among other things, the difference is that life events and other highlighted posts do not stretch across the page when they are starred. In the original Timeline design, when a user highlights a post, it appears larger than others. Now, posts simply get a blue banner in the corner but otherwise remain the same size as standard posts. Although this design is not currently being tested on brand pages, this could be something that eventually affects them.