Facebook Tweaks Application Navigation, News Feed

September 10th, 2008

By Justin Smith

As Facebook migrates all users to the redesigned site this week, it is still tweaking the design of several pages and navigational elements updated in the redesign.

Tonight, Facebook pushed a few changes to the overall navigation of the site, including changes that affect the ways applications can be reached:

1. The Applications menu, accessible from the header, now only contains a user’s top 8 “Bookmarked” applications. Previously, it contained a) Bookmarked applications, b) Recently Used applications, and c) A scrollable list of all applications a user had authorized.

2. Applications can no longer be “Bookmarked” from the Applications menu while using the application. Previously, users could add apps to their Bookmarks list using the Applications menu in the header. Now, applications can only apparently be “Bookmarked” by selecting and dragging apps to the top of the list in either the Applications > Edit All Applications page, or after clicking “More” in the Applications list in the right rail of the home page.

3. The “Bookmarks” section in the right rail of the home page has been renamed “Applications,” and it now contains 6 “bookmarked” applications instead of 8.

4. “Home” has been added to the header navigation, and “Profile” has returned as the label of your profile in the header’s main menu. Previously your name (i.e. “Justin Smith”) was the label of this tab. Facebook added a second link to the profile page in the right side of the header which is actually labeled with your name, and added full height highlights in the header menu.

Finally, Facebook pushed a couple small tweaks to the News Feed tonight:

1. The “Top Stories” default News Feed filter on the home page has been renamed “News Feed.”

2. The first three “News Feed” stories are no longer always Status Updates, as they have been for the last couple of weeks. (Update: it appears this was only temporary; three Status Updates still sit at the top of the feed.)

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12 Responses to “Facebook Tweaks Application Navigation, News Feed”

TonyB Says:
September 10th, 2008 at 2:42 am
The first three stories in my feed are still the latest Status Updates. Really annoying. Makes the first half of the news feed completely irrelevant to my preferences. Once you factor in comments and ads you need to scroll halfway down the page before you come across anything of interest…
LoneStar Says:
September 10th, 2008 at 5:19 am
Negative changes those to Application menus, indeed.

I hope this is not what they meant with “making Application more easily accessible”
Kerrie Says:
September 10th, 2008 at 5:31 am
New facebook is horrendous. I dont care how much ‘tweaking’ they do it’s a mess! What ever happened to ‘if it aint broken, dont fix it’

In my opinion facebook havent considered their audience at all. They have just made a dozen more pages pr profile, so that they can add hundreds of extra adverts.
Tara Says:
September 10th, 2008 at 9:10 am
Why oh why oh why….. did they do that? Like I can completely under stand it if they just ADDED a “more” drop down button but you should have to enter the “edit” section of your applications to go somewhere SHEESH!!!

also… what’s the point in moving the “Home” button next the the “Facebook” button, which is ALSO THE HOME BUTTON???
CAF Says:
September 10th, 2008 at 9:14 am
Personally, I really don’t see a huge improvement here. I still see the same things on my home page as I did before, in pretty much the same way.
Robert Says:
September 10th, 2008 at 9:17 am
No matter what they tweak, its still a piece of garbage. I guess Mark Zuckerberg had no more ideas to steal and he came up with this himself. Ouch, Mark, go get another job and steal some REAL ideas…
LoneStar Says:
September 10th, 2008 at 10:46 am
I’ve been using the new facebook for months and I’m pretty much used to it now, don’t feel the need to go back to old one, but I don’t see how cutting down the drop-down Applications menu makes things easier. If they have to crop it to just 8 apps and no edit options, it would be better to totally remove it, and only use the Applications list on right sidebar.
Urmi Says:
September 10th, 2008 at 11:22 am
I agree with Tara with there being a “Home” AND the Facebook logo button. The duplication is unnecessary, especially since (I think) most FB users click on the logo by default to get to the home section.

Also, it doesn’t make any sense to have access to your own profile page through TWO links – the one called “Profile” and the second with your own name. More than anything, its confusing and again unnecessary.

The bookmarks/applications changes I’m not opposed to them, although the changes to how to get an app bookmarked is not clear. Maybe that should be a popup note real soon. It does however seem tedious to have to go “Home” to get to all of your apps.
Inside Facebook » Facebook Says Changes to Application Accesibility in New Profile “Definitely Not Final” Says:
September 10th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
[...] changes to the new Facebook design that were rolled out last night, which changed the way applications are bookmarked and accessed [...]
Frank Says:
September 10th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
I’m really surprised they removed the “Bookmark this Application” from the drop-down menu. The current process for bookmarking an app is really tedious. If anything, they should add a “Bookmark” feature on the “about page” for each app to help users with this process. If they put the option in the same place where you can “Block” the app, users will have less difficulty with making these kinds of choices. Furthermore, by removing “Recently Visited,” they’ve now made finding apps that much more complex. In a nutshell, I echo what LoneStar said, “I hope this is not what they meant with ‘making Application more easily accessible’”!!!
Dave C. Says:
September 10th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
This is just ridiculous. I can’t believe that this is happening. Every time I find something and get used to it, it seems to get moved or removed. Is there any reason to have 3 ways to directed me to my Homepage on the header? Just a little redundant!
You guys have really out done yourselves with this monstrosity that I now refer to as
F_ _ _ BOOK.

STOP THE INSANITY!!!
jake Says:
September 11th, 2008 at 10:40 am
There is an application button on the bottom left of the page now. I dont remember that being there before. That lets you see all of your apps and re-order them.

The redundant links are horrible! They might have them to try to transition people away from using the old links. Maybe the Facebook home button will eventually do something else… perhaps a page that is less about you more about community.