Facebook released their new timeline design this week to the masses. For the most part it’s nice and clean if not slightly cluttered but the emphasis on photos gives it an immediate appeal.

I do have two major problems though.

1. Wasted Space

Right below my “cover” I have feature boxes. One is for “Friends” and then immediately below that is a larger box for “Friends”. Redundant.

I also have a feature box for photos which shows a small preview of the last image I’ve uploaded which happens to be my profile picture which is featured almost immediately beside the “Photos” box. Clutter.

2. Hard to Follow

The timeline metaphor is nice. It makes sense and is easy to understand. However, by placing the timeline entries on alternating sides of a central line it makes it hard to follow. We are trained to read (especially websites) in columns and jumping back and forth is disorienting.