Facebook is getting a redesign out of nowhere

As recently reported by Stan Schroeder of digital news website Mashable, it seems Facebook is testing out a redesigned interface of the home menu for a small group of users. This new look features all important icons relocated to the left of the screen in a slim ribbon panel and the rest of all navigation options in other panels next to it. 

While the Facebook redesign of 2020 took a while to get used to, it still offered neat changes to the user interface that many welcomed—especially since it included the much-needed Facebook Dark Mode option. However, this teased redesign doesn’t seem as intuitive as it should.

There had been no announcements regarding this little test, as far as Schroeder had checked, and it felt like just another update. “Nearly all of the navigation elements, menus, and settings were moved to the left on the desktop version of the platform, with essentially no navigation on top of the page,” he says. It also came with a little pop-up tutorial for an explanation. 

Basically, the redesign aims for a more streamlined look. However, Facebook has over a dozen buttons so the left side can start feeling too cluttered and disorganized with the amount that’s displayed. Gone are the notifications and Messenger buttons on the top-right corner, too. Meanwhile, the button for composing a new Messenger message is left all alone on the right side.

Schroeder expressed some doubts about this new redesign. He pointed out that while some apps have a similar look, with Facebook’s vast amount of features, “placing all of them on the left might not be the ideal solution.” Additionally, the new design wouldn’t be consistent with the mobile version’s own UI. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find a way to roll back to the current design.

Since not a lot of people he knew were aware of the redesign, Schroeder opted to contact Facebook for any details they could spare. For now, though, we can expect that this test will eventually be expanded to more users in the coming months, and we can then personally see how we really feel about this major overhaul they’re planning. 

Image credit: Stan Schroeder / Mashable