I'm trying the new friends page... what do you guys think?

[sharya]

I know there's always a knee-jerk reaction to any changes that lj makes, but aside from being sorry that I'm not seeing things in my own personal style that I created, I'm not hating this

Comments

[bertine]

I don't know how to get to it.

[sharya]

At the top of the Friends page, there's a link that says "Switch to the new one". You can toggle back and forth.

[bertine]

I don't have that link!

[sharya]

Hmm.
Just under the lj bar and before the Friends List Posts... you don't see it?

[avecvu]

hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate

It hurts my eyes and gives me a headache and infinity scroll is the WORST. I spend 99% of my LJ time on my friends page, furthermore. I don't give even one damn about what my LJ looks like to anybody else (especially since my LJ is locked so I assume that basically everybody is viewing my journal on their own friends page) , so my customized style is for ease of reading for me.

If LJ makes this change mandatory I am switching to Dreamwidth and I will not look back. My paid account expires this month too, and I've turned off auto-renew. PLUS they are apparently giving the heave-ho to paid accounts ENTIRELY come spring, which... I don't know what to do with that information. I also don't know what that would mean for permanent account holders such as yourself.

In short, I am ready to jump ship.

[sharya]

Yes, I would like the ability to adjust the style in which I'm reading - that was one of the great things about lj. I don't find the style they chose to be terrible though, but hopefully customization will follow.

Regarding the "news" though, this was where I saw the original reference made to the "rumors", and then I saw this more recent comment.

[avecvu]

Hmm, ok. I hadn't seen the follow-up.

The style doesn't even work properly for me if I don't have my browser maximized - and by maximized, I mean full screen - because their page is fixed-with. I have to scroll to the right in order to read entries in the new friends page. It's not the worst thing about the layout for me, but it's annoying nonetheless.

The friends page style is a dealbreaker for me, though. I haven't had to deal with most of the annoying changes that LJ has implemented over the past couple of years because my style (Generator!) has masked them. So yeah, if they don't make this optional I'm switching to Dreamwidth.

[sharya]

Don't worry - I suspect they're going to come up with something. There was enough feedback to prompt a response, so I'm just waiting for that. It'll probably take a few days.

[murun]

I'm scared to look in case I can't revert back. Such a coward!

[sharya]

LoL I'm sure you'll be able to revert back!

[murun]

I tried it. It looks boring. I love infinite scrolling, but white websites hurt my eyes. I'll stick with the regular until forced to change.

[xo_kizzy_xo]

I don't think that beta toggle has hit everybody. A couple of people on my FL were saying they didn't have the link at the top of their journals. Somewhere in that lj_releases thread is a post about the beta not being available to all users at the moment.

I have it. I tried it. I don't like the infinite scrolling nor all the white space, but it's not enough to make me scream for the hills.

What bothers me is, if I understand correctly, they'll be forcing it on every single account, which means that customized layouts will be phased out. The customization is one of the reasons why I've been a paid account for so long. I love layouts, graphics, playing with CSS, and now you're telling me I can no longer do that?

The other thing they've already implemented that I don't care for is getting rid of the placeholders for photos and video. The placeholders avoided the bandwidth issue, at least on my computer. Now I suddenly see all these photos that do weird things to my layout and I have no way to hide them.

[sharya]

That's interesting - I didn't know they were getting rid of/got rid of the placeholders.

Obviously something's going on and they're preparing for a big move.

There's been enough feedback about this recent change that I'm expecting a formal response from them within the next few days. Removing customization isn't usually a good business move.

[xo_kizzy_xo]

I'm wondering if they're going to brush us off like the last time there was a major site change. I wouldn't be surprised.

I didn't know about the placeholders until the photos started showing up in my journal. I went to my display settings and the placeholder box is still checked off...???

[avecvu]

They haven't gotten rid of placeholders for photos and video.

The placeholders just don't work in your old layout.

They broke your old layout when they rolled out the beta. I have all of the same complaints!

[hosticle_fifer]

I dunno! I miss having my color scheme and all on my Friends page. But I do like having the infinity scroll or whatever. Clicking a link for older entries is for CHUMPS.

That said, some of the other changes I've heard about, translated from Russian of course, sound a bit ...ominous.