Some of our Facebook using friends are still fearfully awaiting the social switchover to the dreaded timeline profile design, and while that roll out is still slowly taking place it seem Facebook is already prepping stage two which will tweak the overall design and hopefully make the whole mess a lot more presentable.
Gadget Helpline got to view the timeline early by tinkering with some developer settings and boy did we regret it! The new layout was later trialled in New Zealand before hitting more local profiles like an unwanted bout of the flu. “I’ve been timelined” accompanied by a sad face has since become the theme of many a status update. The idea beneath the timeline was cool but somewhat stalkerish, allowing Facebook peeps the chance to post and view life events and noteworthy occasions throughout an entire lifetime, not only their “Facebook life” (yes, there was life before Facebook – Shocking!)
With the revelation that the layout will change once again – and so soon – suggests that the current version of the Facebook timeline might be considered as “Timeline Beta” – and this would explain its sloppy and cluttered design. The revised timeline as seen in a screenshot shared by Gizmodo looks to tighten the spacing of links and change the overall graphical styling of the top portion of our personal profile. Meaning there’s much less of a bombardment of visual information and more a stylish display of name, home town and other information some of which overlaps the cover image rather than being beneath it forcing all our recent posts further down the page.
Since these changes appear to be in test mode with it being distributed to very few users we’re yet to see if the timeline itself and presentation of our posts is also made less congested, but for now take a look at the changes in the attached screenshot and let us know what you think and Gadget Helpline will keep you up to date on how and when to get these improvements.
Let us know your thoughts on our comments below or via our @Gadget_Helpline Twitter page or Official Facebook group.