on the new profile page, and the hubub surrounding it

[martygreene]

LJ has a new profile page. Some people like it, some people are ambivalent, and some people hate it. Following many months of beta testing (in which I took part, and which was announced in a lj-news post and open to all users) the new profile recently went live

Comments

[beeporama]

I think people should be forced to subscribe to lj-news, or at least it should default that way for new accounts.

I don't like the new layout, but it's just aesthetic, and I don't really care that much.

[martygreene]

It used to be a default, but I don't know if it still is.

Out of curiosity what about the new layout do you dislike?

[beeporama]

It's a lot more "businesslike" with all those stats at the top, which is purely aesthetic.

When I go to a profile page, I am almost always looking for a link to their pictures (if I know them) or the bio (if I don't). Those used to be more emphasized; now they kind of blend in. I think they might have increased the font size on the list of friends/feeds/communities, probably to go with a more "social networking" site feel. The pictures especially are tough to find, since they named it "Scrapbook" (not intuitive to me) and it's really hidden in the busy stats list up top.

I do know that my usage and sense of aesthetics are probably not typical, which is why I'm not complaining.

[av8rmike]

Another friend of mine had similar thoughts (in a locked post, otherwise I'd link to it) and also mentioned there were only about 800 signatures on the online "petition" to get the old page back. Being generous and assuming they're up to 1,000 signatures by now, using your same numbers that makes:
1000/4800 =~ 2.08% of commenters signed, or
1000/1880805 =~ 0.053% of active accounts.

EDIT: two things I forgot: the new layout can now hide communities of which a person is a member, one of the most requested features.
Nice icon! When I saw that picture in your account I thought it would make a worthy icon. ;)

[martygreene]

We actually took the photo with intent to iconize. I'm tempted to do the same with Hack, but I don't want to overdo it, y'know?

[pallmalls]

Funny, I wouldn't have even noticed, had you not mentioned it. I don't look at people's profile pages all that often, and mine is as bland and vanilla as it gets.

The only bad thing I have to say about it is that a single margin-to-margin column amd the use of horizontal rules looks amateurish, like the Web circa 1994. As far as content goes, who cares?

[martygreene]

Yeah, I don't spend a whole lot of time on profiles either.

The rules are helpful for me, as they separate content nicely and allow me to see where things will collapse to, but yeah.

[marchenland]

But we just VOTED for change! (Well, some of us.)

Maybe that's all the change we can handle this week.

***

I like the new layout and have been using it through the beta period.

[gkr]

I think all the wailing and moaning is humorous. Most of the complaints i've seen are more like "but you didn't ask meeeeeee!"

[martygreene]

yeah, I'm amused as well.