Category Archives: Facebook’s New Design

Facebook, Facebook's New Design

Facebook’s New Look – March 2014

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We knew it was coming, thanks to this:

Photo of Facebook Changes 5
Is that an Easter bunny? A kitten?

 

 

 

Once again, Facebook has changed its look. This time the change affects both your timeline and your home page. Your timeline is your own page, in case you didn’t know, while the home page is where you see what kinds of things your friends have been up to. Here’s a shot of the new timeline:

Photo of Facebook's New Look 1
Lots of open real estate on the left, cut from this photo, with more on the right.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The center of the page looks much the same but the right side has the news ticker on the top, below the games and apps,  with chat below. You can remove the games tab, thank goodness:

Photo of Facebook's New Look 2
Here are the options that you’ll be able to choose by clicking on the gear icon on the bottom right.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The old news ticker had only one item down on the bottom left. Your home page looks like this:

Photo of Facebook's New Look 3
Ads, lots of them with trending posts at the top right, an attempt to link up with Twitter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When you turn off the chat and hide the sidebar, things get pretty stark:

Photo of Facebook Changes 4
Don’t worry, the ads are still there. Not much else though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There’s also an interesting look while your home page is loading. These look like postal envelopes, don’t they?

Photo of Facebook Changes 6
The new look seems to be a bit slow in loading.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Only one of our accounts has the new look but, unless you are very observant, you probably won’t notice much difference. To be honest, we think it’s a step backwards. The black sidebar on the left looked OK, to us anyway. It was new, distinctive but maybe needed some work to show more of the ticker and less of the games, etc. Remember it?

Photo of Facebook Changes 7
We think this looked more modern than the one we have now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What do you think? There’s not much we can do about any changes that come our way and not everyone has the new look yet anyway. We’re kind of non-committal about it all, basically because there’s no way to change the look yourself. Until that happens, we will just observe and share our thoughts with you.

Thanks for reading. As always, comments, questions and suggestions are welcomed. Fill in the form below or, better yet, ‘Like’ us on Facebook. Here is the link:Computers Made Simple on Facebook.

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Adjust Default Privacy Settings, Controlled sharing, Data Use Policy Update, Facebook, Facebook Photo Privacy Settings, Facebook Tricks, Facebook's New Design, The New Facebook

Use Your Facebook Privacy Settings – or lose them completely!

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At some point last year,  Facebook users who hadn’t changed their search privacy settings lost the ability to change them at all. As of yesterday, October 10, 2013, all Facebook users lost that privacy feature. Why? Because Facebook arbitrarily changes these settings to benefit themselves, not their users. Here is what they have to say about it:

Reminder: Finishing the Removal of an Old Search Setting

Read over Facebook’s rather lame reasoning for this action. What’s the next thing that Facebook will change? We suspect that, unless you have set your post/status/photo settings to anything other than ‘everyone’, everything you post on Facebook will be just that, open to everyone. Every photo, every comment, every status update will be wide open to both people you know and millions upon millions of people you don’t. Change your settings now before you lose them completely.

On the page linked above, you should read the section about limiting your past posts. Here’s a graphic that they use:

Photo of Facebook Limit Past Posts
This is a way to set all of your past posts to Friends Only or Friends of Friends, depending on your preferences.

 

When you are making a new post, whether it be a status update, a photo/album or something that you’re sharing, be sure to set the privacy level that you feel secure with. Here’s a graphic about how to do that:

Photo of Facebook Post Privacy
Adjust these setting now before you lose the ability to change them at all.

 

We’ve just read that Twitter is now more popular among teens than Facebook is. Teens, the original audience for Facebook, seem to have moved on, leaving Facebook to their parents and grandparents. You can bet that Facebook will ramp up their privacy changes in the near future to eliminate that privacy altogether. Read through our posts and figure out how to change your settings to match your own level of security. It looks as if those who don’t use the settings, lose them completely. Don’t let this happen to you.

 

Thanks for reading. We enjoy your comments and questions. Use the form below to let us know what’s on your mind. Better yet, Like us on Facebook and keep up with our posts and tips. Here’s the link: Computers Made Simple on Facebook

 

 

Facebook, Facebook's New Design

Facebook – Three different versions (at least!)

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Did you know that there are at least three different versions or looks for Facebook right now? As of today, June 4, 2013, we’ve identified three completely different looks for your Facebook pages. Here’s how you can sort them out to see which one you have. If you are stuck on an older version, don’t worry too much. Sign up to be on the waiting list and Facebook will let you in as soon as they can. Here’s the link to get on the list: Facebook Newsfeed.

1. The oldest look that we have at this point is this one:

Photo of old Facebook page
The only real difference is the search bar up at the very top.

The ‘new’ Timeline is there but the enhanced search bar isn’t. This should be the oldest Facebook page there is. It’s at least a full year old by now. As you can see, the ‘View As’ icon is only visible from your Timeline under the gear icon. It’s the same in all the versions of Facebook that we have right now.

 

2. The next newest is this one:

This is much the same as the old one but it has the newer graphic search function.
This is much the same as the old one but it has the newer graphic search function.

 

This newer look is the one that introduced the Facebook Graphic Search bar. As soon as you get this look, Facebook will give you a rundown on how to use it. Honestly? We never use it but, at least to Facebook, it seemed like a great idea at the time. Again, the ‘View As’ icon is in the same spot.

 

3. The latest and greatest Facebook look is this one:

 

Photo of Facebook's New Look
Graph Search, left sidebar, bigger photos…it’s all here.

 

In this look, although you can’t see it here, the photos are much bigger and the left panel has the list of clickable icons with chat at the bottom. The ads are now below the dates of your timeline and your profile pic is up on the top left, not the top right. You can Post from any page you’re on, just click the Post icon up on the right, and the number of items in your newsfeed is right there beside the word Home. These are just normal feed items, maybe photos or shares, they are not your own notifications.

What’s missing in the latest version? The news ticker. Well, it’s still there but our version only shows one single news item at the very bottom of the chat row. Turn the chat off and there is still only one item there. Keep in mind that very few people, it seems, have this version and that it’s still in a beta stage. Things will change when this version is introduced on a more universal basis.

TIP: We’ve highlighted the ‘View As’ function because it’s a good way to see what others can see on your timeline. You can view your own profile as a stranger (default) or as a friend, just type in the name. Keep in mind that it’s not without its problems. What you see may or may not be what the public or what a friend sees. There are glitches and, as Facebook itself will tell you, “Things you hide from your timeline still appear in news feed, search and other places on Facebook”. That’s about as vague as you can get, right? Seems like you can’t hide anything.

Thanks for reading! Which version do you have? What’s missing that you think should be there or what causes you the most frustration? Let us know. We love comments!

Here’s a link to our very own Facebook page: Computers Made Simple on Facebook 

Facebook, Facebook's New Design

Facebook News Feed – get on the waiting list

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We’ve had some inquiries about Facebook’s new look and some people seem pretty eager to get it for their profile. We can’t help too much with that but here is a link that just might speed things up:

Facebook News Feed

Here are some screenshots from the page:

Photo of New Look 1
Goodbye clutter? We’re not so sure about that.

 

Photo of New Look 2
Photos do look better, just a bit smaller than full size.

The button is way down at the bottom but there is another one on top, if you’re signed into your Facebook account:

Photo of New Look 3
Click the green button and get on the list.

 

This is what you get:

Photo of New Look 4
Luck you! You’re on the list.

 

Here’s the interesting message at the end:

Photo of New Look 6
Will the new look be on your mobile device first?

 

This says that you’re joining the waiting list for the web, right? Then it says to look for it on mobile phones soon. Maybe it will appear first for most people on their phones. We’ll have to wait and see what happens. Good luck! We hope everyone gets the new look soon.

Thanks for reading!

Hey! Like our Facebook page and get updates as soon as they are published. Here’s the link: Computers Made Simple on Facebook