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Oi! LiveJournal! No!
LJ are trying out the beta (at least, I hope it's the beta) of the new profile pages. Here's mine.
Now, I can live with the ugly. What I'm cross about is the lack of functionality. I like the box at the top, apart from the huge pixellated user graphic. However, the two columns are yukky and unfunctional. Perhaps if we all yell enough over at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
lj_design, they'll not implement it, or at least improve it, but I'm not optimistic.
Come on, LJ. Bebo has better profile pages, for crying out loud. Even if an opt-out is put in place, it looks as though this will be the default, so we'll have to cope with all that scrolling whenever we visit other people's info pages.
The only good thing about it was that I discovered I had some bad HTML in my bio, making the page break at the contact info. How many of those bios full of colourbars have bad HTML that will break the vulnerable two-column style, and how many of those users are going to bother to fix it?
And while I'm bitching about LJ, please please please can we have an option to turn off the loathly icon-full results page as default in the directory search? Especially when you're trying to view someone's >150 friends. What's wrong with a plain list of usernames? More results fit on the page, it takes a quarter of the time to load, and you can't be offended by anyone's default userpic.
Now, I can live with the ugly. What I'm cross about is the lack of functionality. I like the box at the top, apart from the huge pixellated user graphic. However, the two columns are yukky and unfunctional. Perhaps if we all yell enough over at
lj_design, they'll not implement it, or at least improve it, but I'm not optimistic.- the important stuff—bio, interests, contact info—is all shoved away over to the right, with the flist occupying the more prominent left of the page.
- interests are right down in the bottom right corner! The first thing I, and a lot of other users, look for on an info page is what interests we have in common, so why is this now relegated to the least important position?
- mutual friends are no longer bolded in the friend-of list, while if you try to solve this by showing mutual friends
- 'mutual friends' and 'also friend of' lists are separated by the friends list
- in fact, it's now hard to distinguish between 'friended' and 'friend of' at first glance
- when viewing other user's pages, common friends are not bolded
- users with more than 150 friends have their lists cut off, meaning that they have to use that stupid directory search with the default icons to see their entire flists
- why is a user's most recent school/university considered to be more important than an email address?
- too much info-light space at the top, neccessitating scrolling
- still no link to the tags list! There is a link to update journal instead, which is redundant as there's also one in the blue drop-down menu at the top of all LiveJournal pages
- bad HTML (eg tables without a closing tag) can break the page.
Come on, LJ. Bebo has better profile pages, for crying out loud. Even if an opt-out is put in place, it looks as though this will be the default, so we'll have to cope with all that scrolling whenever we visit other people's info pages.
The only good thing about it was that I discovered I had some bad HTML in my bio, making the page break at the contact info. How many of those bios full of colourbars have bad HTML that will break the vulnerable two-column style, and how many of those users are going to bother to fix it?
And while I'm bitching about LJ, please please please can we have an option to turn off the loathly icon-full results page as default in the directory search? Especially when you're trying to view someone's >150 friends. What's wrong with a plain list of usernames? More results fit on the page, it takes a quarter of the time to load, and you can't be offended by anyone's default userpic.
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Never mind; going by their past performance, they'll implement it, act bewildered and hurt at the outcry, and then a couple of months down the line they'll bring in the opt-out that should have been available from the start.
I agree with you entirely about the directory search, but you knew that.
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Never mind; going by their past performance, they'll implement it, act bewildered and hurt at the outcry, and then a couple of months down the line they'll bring in the opt-out that should have been available from the start.
They said Yes, I am well aware that if we release it, you would like an option to turn it off.
Which isn't the same as saying they are going to release it with an opt-out. And we'll still have to put up with the people who can't be bothered/don't want/don't know how to opt out. Why can't they do these stupid things as opt-in?
*hates the directory search with the fire of a thousand burning suns*
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That sounds a whole lot like 'I know you've been whining for an ice-cream for the last hour but you're not getting one' to me. Also, whoever it was on lj_design saying it had been done to make it easy for them to fit ads on there was dead on the money, IMO.
Ah well, at least they've finally fixed the 'memories unavailable' bug after persistently prioritising it below, say, dumb little bunches of flowers to put on one's info page.
Just one minor nitpick about the original post - I am getting friends-in-common bolded when I look at your info page using the new style.
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Ah, that would seem to be a temporary bug with Firefox, then.
Ah well, at least they've finally fixed the 'memories unavailable' bug after persistently prioritising it below, say, dumb little bunches of flowers to put on one's info page.
Don't forget the stupid '
stalknudge a friend' feature. We can get that on the info pages and we can't get a link to the tags list?Sudden deeply horrid thought: seeing as they seem intent on turning LJ into MySpace, when to you think they'll start showing friends' default pics on our info pages?
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Ugh. Ugh. I bet you're right, though. What the hell is it with them and their bizarre preoccupation with showing default userpics everywhere? I mean, I bet 70% of all LJ userpics are blurry shots of greasy-haired US teens staring dopily into a webcam and most of the rest are either Invader Zim or photoshopped pictures of Alan Rickman, none of which you'd think would be doing much to sell advertising space.
I turned nudge off from the console within moments of hearing about it.
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Bloody SixApart.
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On a more positive note, happy birthday!
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I think that permanent and long-term paid users should be listened to more. The extra icon per quarter is very nice and all, so they evidently listened to the perpetual cry of 'more icons!', but when are they going to listen to the loyal base when they say what features they want, or don't want, like the ads and the stupid directory search?
I'm going submit a suggestion for changing the default results for searches, and if they do implement this profile page, I'll be making a few more. Not that they'll do anything, but at least it makes me feel better.
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Thank you!
BTW, here's one of the comments I posted on there about fixing the worst features. Not that anyone's going to listen, but hey...
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I doubt I'm going anywhere either, to be honest, I expect I'll stay here and moan. :) Here is where my friends are, and you're such a diverse bunch that if you decamp you'll probably decamp in umpteen different directions, which would be less than ideal.
Incidentally, following links from lj_design took me to this (http://community.livejournal.com/lj_biz/236361.html?thread=7277897#t7277897). ('Out of interest, and if we're feeling particularly public spirited, can paid/perm members opt in to have ads if they want to give LJ extra revenue?' / 'Yes, and we're hoping to build a model that's so damn good you'll want to turn it on to see what neat things are being offered!')
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Thank you *bows* Now if only the LJ design team agreed with you....
I'm not hugely opposed to the two columns, even - I just think the implementation they've got at present is a bit rubbish, and that 'School' ought to be back down at the bottom or in the middle - putting it up at the top looks like they're marketing LJ as a site for teenagers.
Yes, ditto to all that. Why is your school more important than your email or IM? Oh, apparently Six Apart have decided we're all teenagers:
LiveJournal has grown to be an amazing community of fiercely independent bloggers, primarily teenagers and twenty-somethings. Over the past seven years, that community has developed in both its scope and its need for powerful customization. We think that Vox will be a great choice for bloggers looking for a more turnkey environment that balances community and privacy.
Grrrr.
('Out of interest, and if we're feeling particularly public spirited, can paid/perm members opt in to have ads if they want to give LJ extra revenue?' / 'Yes, and we're hoping to build a model that's so damn good you'll want to turn it on to see what neat things are being offered!')
Yeah, right. If I'm logged out on a public computer or something, I make a point not to click on ads. I suppose they won't ditch it even if it doesn't get them much revenue, but it's the principle of the thing.
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