Are You in the Wrong Site?

World is changing rapidly in an unpredictable speed and sometimes we are even confused when a website has gone under construction to provide better service for the internet users. 

However, sometime things go cuckoo and it is a mess when everybody is flared up when the new design of a website does not match with their expectation. So, is change a good or bad thing for websites? A recent e-demonstration has caught my attention when The Australian newspaper Media section with the article 'Facebook makeover leaves some devotees fuming' has reported on the new interface of Facebook that cause huge dissatisfaction among Facebook users. 

A screenshot of the new interface of Facebook- a popular social networking website

(image source: http://www.new.facebook.com/facebook)

Nielsen (2008) has stated that if a website is not easily to be used, internet users will most probably leave the website. Facebook has changed into a new interface according to the feedback of internet users but it failed to meet the reading habits of internet users in various ways. 

Taking a look at the new interface of Facebook, the word “complicated” will come into mind as you can see there are too much of navigation bars and section to explore. People easily get confused and lost their way in the social networking website as they have to make a few attempts and get used to the new interface of the website all over again. 

The over flooding applications in website is also something document designer should avoid when it obstructs users to scan for the information they wanted (Reep, 2006).  
Document designers should keep in mind that the main principle for designing web pages is to provide a comfortable layout for readers to read on screen with minimum of eye movement (Parker, 2003).

Although there are a lot of weakness in the new interface of Facebook, but people are still using it and found out that it is actually more organized and better after using it for a period of time (Impactbranding.co.uk, 2008). So, the question for fellows’ media to ponder will be whether the ever popular Facebook has changed the trend of website publication as it is still highly in demand despite its complex web design?


Reference: 

Australianit.news.com.au 2008, Facebook makeover leaves some devotees fuming, media section, viewed 13th November 2008, <http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,24328928-15318,00.html>

Impactbranding.co.uk 2008, Is Facebook 2.0 Actually Better?, viewed 8th November 2008, < http://www.impactbranding.co.uk/blog/index.php/tag/new-user-interface/>

Nielsen, J 2008, Writing for the Web, viewed 8th November 2008,
   
Parker, RC 2003, ‘Chapter 14’ in Looking Good in Print, 5th edition, Scootsdale, Arizona.  

Reep, Diana 2006, ‘Chapter 3 & 7’ in Technical Writing, 6th edition, Pearson Education, Inc.