Everyone hates the new Facebook layout. At least, I don’t know a single person that enjoys it. Personally, I’m not much a fan either, though I don’t seem to hate it nearly so much as anyone else. Still, my first reaction was “How the Hell did this pass usability testing?”. Trying to find the familiar links was a pain at first, and the very look of it just gave a queasy feeling.

Yet whenever I tried to describe why it was so terrible, I found any truly good reasons to escape me. I couldn’t say “well, this here is a perfect example of bad design”. So exactly what’s wrong with it? Why is it such a terrible new layout? All I’ve really heard from people is “it is/looks horrible” and “I can’t find anything”, for the most part.

So let’s try and figure out what is really going wrong with it.

Let’s be honest with ourselves. Everyone’s first reaction is to hate it because it is different. Don’t give me any excuses, you didn’t like the new Facebook for the simple fact that it was different than you were used to. It’s ok, it isn’t something to be ashamed of. It is a natural reaction, and it happened to everyone when Microsoft released Office 2007 (a lot of people like it better, while others still hate it). A sudden change is disruptive, and your typical work or leisure flow has now run into complications.

So the first reaction is to hate it because it is different. Does that mean everyone is just closed-minded? I don’t really think so, but I do think they aren’t seeing the good alongside the bad.

The first thing we see when logging in is the home page, which is reduced to a news feed and links to various applications and other sections of Facebook. Personally, I was uncomfortable with the change because everything seemed way too spread out, which made it feel less organized, though technically it is just the opposite. Previously Facebook had a very confined layout, though they just kept on adding more and more to the site that only cluttered more and more up. They went to change that, but in doing so everything seems to have exploded all over the place.

So let’s give it a closer look. The first page you go to is basically your News Feed, which, overall, is the new focus of Facebook. Now, plenty of people hated the News Feed at first, but grew to deal with it. Personally, it has helped me keep in touch with some of my friends that have graduated College or live far away, so I don’t mind it so much. Given its benefits to social networking, the whole point of the site, moving the focus onto the news feed is actually quite a natural move.

The major negative change to the news feed is it now posts comments that others have made about posted items, status, etc. onto the feed, which clutters up the feed with unnecessary content. However, this is a minor thing, as they actually did a very good thing: different feed categories. You can filter the feeds to see only a certain kind of news post, such as just new photo posts, or new posted items/links, or just event news/information. This is actually an excellent idea, and never requires you to leave the page.

I also find their choice in layout design interesting, as it is clear the developers followed the rule of “reading in a spiral”. For those not familiar, the average web user will read a page in a spiral, starting from top, to left, to bottom and to right. Web users also merely skim text and spend more time looking for ways to navigate to the page they desire rather than reading a full page. These two habits are typically why links appear on the left of the screen. A user will move from the page title to the links, instantly finding the way to the information they seek (or so they hope).

Facebook followed this psychology, only they placed the News Feed as the second most important item (the first most important being the title page and top menu, containing links to account central links). The last place you look are the links, which are truly less important now that the news feed can filter the latest news from almost each of them right onto your front page. Not to mention the ads, which are now located in a spot where they are less likely to be noticed (and therefore less likely to get annoying).

So the home page is actually of a better design than the previous Facebook layout. It takes the habits of web users into account for the layout, and also offers more options for the News Feed that gives you a variety of information access without having to leave the page.

So how about the other pages? How do they hold up?

Well, a quick glance at the pages for Groups and Events reveals that those pages haven’t changed much. The new layout seems to have focused mostly on the home page. Browsing the inbox, settings and other pages reveal the same thing, where the page simply seems more spread out being the only difference.

That is, until we get to the profile page. This is the home of the suck, and where Facebook really needs to do some work. I understand that they want to push for a focus on news feeds, but the feed on a personal profile page just feels unnecessary, not to mention invasive. It has now completely swallowed the wall whole, and all other applications shoved to the side. Some applications won’t even show up, such as my Xbox 360 Gamercard application. You have to navigate different sections of the profile in order to see some of these things.

Granted I no longer look at the profiles of others unless I have just added them as a friend, all because of the news feed, but it still doesn’t mean this was a bad idea. It wasn’t the same as my first reaction, which was “Dear God, it’s as bad as MySpace”. Let’s face it, nothing is as bad as MySpace, and Facebook never will be. The applications began transforming the Facebook profiles in disorganized messes, and clearly they tried to fix it.

Unfortunately, I think Facebook missed an opportunity here. When the previous version allowed you to customize the appearance of your profile by moving around the applications and other portions of it, I was quite pleased. It allowed a personalized page while still maintaining some level of good design, something every page on MySpace lacks. Even an idiot that still uses Windows ME and Netscape 6 can have a page that looks good.

That customization is gone now, though, and while you can add application tabs, you can’t choose which ones take priority. Some people may feel their info should take more precedence than the news feed, for example. Some may want to simply change the layout of the wall, so that applications take precedence.

As an example, I’d prefer the narrow left column that currently contains the applications to instead hold the news feed. The larger center area itself could be divided into several rows of one or two columns each. For example, a row with two columns up top to note posted items and photos, a row with a single column for the gamercard, another row with a single column for the visual bookshelf, and anything else organized beneath it.

The wall should also be its own page, as it had a good place as a sort of writing/message board. It was like walking across someone’s door in a dorm hall that had a message left by a friend (though much more verbose).

Of all the changes in the new layout, the profile is the real downfall. However, does that mean the new layout is as horrible as everyone seems to be making it out to be?

Not at all. While my first reaction was no different than anyone else, I’ve found that it is actually a good design that I can quickly get used to. The unnecessary information was moved over to where I can ignore it, and the info and links I’m going to look for first are now placed where I will first glance. The other pages have remained pretty much the same without change. The only true problem is the Profile, but it is not like it is beyond saving.

In the end, I think everyone that seethes hatred at the new layout just needs to calm down and give it a bit of time to get used to. It is not terrible, and it is not worth jumping back to MySpace for (which I have heard a few times; people, there is NOTHING worth going back to MySpace for. Ever). All you need to do is allow yourself to get used to it.