Doubleminded

A few months ago, an uproar emerged on my Twitter: “Change my Facebook back!” Apparently, users weren’t completely happy with the new updates to their profile view. Groups formed and petitions were signed, all with the hope of reversing the changes. But no – Facebook was improving their interface and user experience. Myspace is doing the same thing with their Profile 2.0.
 

The never ending Myspace profile page is another example of poor interface that has been modified beyond the creator’s original intent. I’ve worked within their rules and outside with design projects for the Chicago band Last Fast Action. It’s not easy. Inline CSS and CSS based positioning require either experts or dumb luck. As a web developer, I cringe at the tables and styles I’m required to insert in the middle of my document to effect the whole page.

Myspace has finally admitted that their users needed some guidance. At first, slew of web-based Myspace editors were created by third parties with background image uploaders, color sliders, and even the ability to remove complete sections. Next, Myspace itself created a profile editor, however, lacking the ability for advanced layout options and live preview.

Enter Myspace’s new Profile 2.0

This full featured profile editor allows users to easily select from 27 templated themes or modify individual elements of their profile individually. One of the nicest features of the customization overhaul is the live preview. Below the AJAX rich customization menus is a full-profile preview that changes by theme or individual elements as they are altered. At the bottom of this article are some screenshots of the interface including the live preview.

The Appearance menu lets you modify:

• The Theme – Includes background image, headers, fonts, colors, and images.
• The Layout – Alter the number of columns (1 or 2) and if there are header or footer sections.
• Advanced Edit – Modify the background image, content alignment, fonts, colors, and spacing.
• CSS – Allows for the proper insertion of CSS based styling into the page.

The Modules menu manages which modules are included on the page.

Here are the current modules:

• Blogs
• Blurbs
• Calendar
• Comments
• Companies
• Details
• Friend Space
• Interests
• Music Player
• Networking
• Schools
• Video Player
• Video Slider

A simple click of the plus sign adds a module to the profile page, and a quick click-and-drag moves it around the page. Up and down the same column, or left and right to new column works. AJAX greatly improves the interface for the profile management.

Each of the modules added on the page also allow for further customization. Sections within the module can be turned on or off, even served differently for friends and non-friends. For example, the Interests module has the following options:

• Privacy – Settings for Everyone, Friends Only, and Just Me ( the logged in user).
• Visible Items – Linking Interests, Show General, Show Music, Show Movies, Show Television, Show Books, Show Heroes

There are also some new features of some of the modules. The Friend Space channel allows for up to 40 displayed friends and the automatic squaring of friends profile images. The Comments module can also be modified with number displayed and original vs. square friend’s profile images.

Another welcome change is the departure of the forever unused “Extended Network” box. Yes, everyone is in everyone else’s extended networks as long as you’re still friends with Tom. But with it’s departure, a new header with multiple images, status, mood, and contact links has take it’s place over the top of the entire profile. I think it looks great and adds much needed usability to the interface.

That’s it for now. Feel free to visit my recently updated profile at myspace.com/techfury2k and friend me. I’m sure tweaks and additions will come as the feedback rolls in. But the biggest lesson that I feel Myspace took away from the Facebook updates was this – Opt In. Users were not thrown into the deep end. You can opt in and are even given 90 days of backup if you decided to roll back. They are ensuring that everything works for the users and for their systems. I look forward to the future of Myspace, and hopefully, a rebirth in user interfaces for the social media networks.

Below are some screenshots of the interface including the live preview: