The Facebook Blog
As Facebook grows, our users get more and more diverse. Some attend college, some have grandkids, some live in Norway, some are in relationships, some were born on February 29th, and some Facebook users are blind.
Some of these facts might surprise you ("not my grandparents" and "Norway? No way!" ). And that last group might be particularly surprising. Many sighted people aren't aware that computers today can be extremely accessible to the blind. I say "can be" because there are a couple factors at play:
First of all, a blind user must have access to some kind of assistive technology. The most common type of assistive software for the blind is a screen reader. With a screen reader enabled, a user can tab through different elements on a page while the screen reader verbally describes each element.
While screen readers are pretty effective, they're not people-smart. In order to work properly, they require the program or website they're reading to adhere to certain guidelines. For example, a screen reader can't figure out who is in a picture, but if a picture has a clear descriptive caption, a blind user can better understand what's on the screen.
Most Facebook pages adhere to the guidelines which make the site accessible to the blind community. Recently, however, we received reports from a few devoted users that not all of our features were up to snuff. So, this week we launched a screen-reader accessible version of the Gift Shop . It's currently linked off the help page, though later this week we'll be incorporating it more tightly with the original Gift Shop.
We know there are areas on the site that still require accessibility enhancements. While balancing those enhancements with the rest of the work we have to do, we plan to make those changes soon. If you notice anything else we can do to improve access to Facebook, as always, feel free to submit your suggestions.
Leah is a product manager at Facebook. She's gifted.
Some of these facts might surprise you ("not my grandparents" and "Norway? No way!" ). And that last group might be particularly surprising. Many sighted people aren't aware that computers today can be extremely accessible to the blind. I say "can be" because there are a couple factors at play:
First of all, a blind user must have access to some kind of assistive technology. The most common type of assistive software for the blind is a screen reader. With a screen reader enabled, a user can tab through different elements on a page while the screen reader verbally describes each element.
While screen readers are pretty effective, they're not people-smart. In order to work properly, they require the program or website they're reading to adhere to certain guidelines. For example, a screen reader can't figure out who is in a picture, but if a picture has a clear descriptive caption, a blind user can better understand what's on the screen.
Most Facebook pages adhere to the guidelines which make the site accessible to the blind community. Recently, however, we received reports from a few devoted users that not all of our features were up to snuff. So, this week we launched a screen-reader accessible version of the Gift Shop . It's currently linked off the help page, though later this week we'll be incorporating it more tightly with the original Gift Shop.
We know there are areas on the site that still require accessibility enhancements. While balancing those enhancements with the rest of the work we have to do, we plan to make those changes soon. If you notice anything else we can do to improve access to Facebook, as always, feel free to submit your suggestions.
Leah is a product manager at Facebook. She's gifted.
![[image]](http://mowser.com/img?url=http%3A%2F%2Fphotos-h.ak.facebook.com%2Fphotos-ak-sf2p%2Fv72%2F75%2F57%2F500031439%2Fa500031439_49759_3058.jpg)
About a year ago we introduced Status Updates to provide a lightweight way for people to give little updates to their friends. Your profile isn't really an appropriate place to tell everyone about the delicious Chipotle you are currently enjoying, and editing your "About Me" section every 15 minutes is just creepy. So in an unprecedentedly bold move, we made a little input box starting with "I am" for everyone to use as they please.
Well, just recently our lawyers received an angry call from the Grammar Police. Really, very angry. As hard as we tried, we just weren't perfect about converting "I am" to "Mark is" without breaking a few rules along the way. We scratched our heads, went to Chipotle, and then decided that we could just change the input to say "Mark is" instead of "I am." Crisis averted.
While we were at it, we decided to make some other improvements. Here's what's shiny and new:
Mark is a Technical Lead at Facebook. That's his job, not his status.
Well, just recently our lawyers received an angry call from the Grammar Police. Really, very angry. As hard as we tried, we just weren't perfect about converting "I am" to "Mark is" without breaking a few rules along the way. We scratched our heads, went to Chipotle, and then decided that we could just change the input to say "Mark is" instead of "I am." Crisis averted.
While we were at it, we decided to make some other improvements. Here's what's shiny and new:
Your friends' three most recent updates on the home page A brand new page to see all your friends' updates at once An RSS feed to put your friends' updates in your reader of choice The ability to subscribe to a friend's updates via SMS The ability to easily update status from your phone by sending an SMS to Facebook starting with the "@" character
Mark is a Technical Lead at Facebook. That's his job, not his status.
This whole process started with a stack of post-its and a white board. We mapped out the different pages of the site, how you got there, and all the paths you could take from there. This exercise was incredibly useful in realizing the redundancies and complications of navigating Facebook.
When Facebook started, it was very simple. There weren't photos or notes, groups or events, mobile integration, or anything else. There was your profile, the network you joined, your friends, and messages. As we built more applications—photos, groups, events—we kept loading them on to that side menu, and linking to them from under your profile picture. It had gotten really hard to discover what you were looking for, so we decided to re-organize in order to simplify and clean up the site.
When Facebook started, it was very simple. There weren't photos or notes, groups or events, mobile integration, or anything else. There was your profile, the network you joined, your friends, and messages. As we built more applications—photos, groups, events—we kept loading them on to that side menu, and linking to them from under your profile picture. It had gotten really hard to discover what you were looking for, so we decided to re-organize in order to simplify and clean up the site.
![[image]](http://mowser.com/img?url=http%3A%2F%2Fphotos-h.ak.facebook.com%2Fphotos-ak-sf2p%2Fv72%2F75%2F57%2F500031439%2Fa500031439_49231_5334.jpg)
A close up of the Notch
People have brought up what we have come to refer to as "The Notch" (on the upper-right hand side of the page). The Notch makes the content you're looking at pop out at you from the background of Facebook. In our minds, it's the content (which belongs to you and your friends) that is most important, so we wanted to make that stand out.
These changes have been in the works for a while, so it's really exciting to see them go out the door. If you get confused as to where things are, check out the special sections of our Help pages, as well as the "Navigating Facebook" page.
Katie, Director of Product at Facebook, is pro-notch.
These changes have been in the works for a while, so it's really exciting to see them go out the door. If you get confused as to where things are, check out the special sections of our Help pages, as well as the "Navigating Facebook" page.
Katie, Director of Product at Facebook, is pro-notch.
While we were mapping out the navigation of our site, we realized we actually had two places where people could message each other: the My Shares page and the My Messages page. This meant that whenever you wanted to send a friend something privately, you had two completely different ways to do essentially the same thing.
One of the biggest aspects of the new Inbox is that it has consolidated these two features into one. Instead of having messages for text and shared items for media, messages can now have videos, music, and links embedded right in them. Everything in one place.
There were also a lot of ways in which messages were like email, but not quite as good. We've added a bunch of cool features that make the Inbox more useful. You can now message up to twenty people at once, making private conversations with your friends much easier. Better yet, message conversations are now displayed as threads, so it's easier to read the conversation you're having with your friends.
The "Share" buttons that you see around the web and on Facebook still work, but now you can decide if you want to send a message with whatever you're looking at attached, or just post it to your profile. Go ahead, push that little Share button at the top right of this post and see what I'm talking about. It's pretty cool.
Cahill, designer for Inboxx, wants you to know that the double x's are intentional, but won't tell you why.
One of the biggest aspects of the new Inbox is that it has consolidated these two features into one. Instead of having messages for text and shared items for media, messages can now have videos, music, and links embedded right in them. Everything in one place.
There were also a lot of ways in which messages were like email, but not quite as good. We've added a bunch of cool features that make the Inbox more useful. You can now message up to twenty people at once, making private conversations with your friends much easier. Better yet, message conversations are now displayed as threads, so it's easier to read the conversation you're having with your friends.
The "Share" buttons that you see around the web and on Facebook still work, but now you can decide if you want to send a message with whatever you're looking at attached, or just post it to your profile. Go ahead, push that little Share button at the top right of this post and see what I'm talking about. It's pretty cool.
Cahill, designer for Inboxx, wants you to know that the double x's are intentional, but won't tell you why.
Facebook is composed of networks: communities of people based around your school, workplace, or region. The rules of interaction with people in your network on the site are similar to how they are in real-life: they're not quite your friends, so a lot of communication is restricted (like writing on their Wall and seeing them in your News Feed), but you can see their profiles, kind of like how you pass by them in the hall or on the street everyday in real life.
Networks are (and have always been) a really important baseline for privacy and visibility rules on Facebook. But beyond that, we realized people didn't really understand the value of joining a network. Now, we've built Network pages, where you can go to find out relevant information about your networks.
Networks are (and have always been) a really important baseline for privacy and visibility rules on Facebook. But beyond that, we realized people didn't really understand the value of joining a network. Now, we've built Network pages, where you can go to find out relevant information about your networks.
![[image]](http://mowser.com/img?url=http%3A%2F%2Fphotos-h.ak.facebook.com%2Fphotos-ak-sf2p%2Fv76%2F75%2F57%2F500031439%2Fa500031439_46679_867.jpg)
On these pages, you can browse upcoming events publicized by people in your network, watch the most popular videos they've posted, groups they've joined, and notes they've written. You can chat about issues on the network discussion board, and yes, even check out the male/female ratio of your network (in addition to stats about popular movies, political views, etc.). Hot.
Phil Fung, the tech lead for network pages, is mildly disturbed by how many people like the movie "Dirty Dancing" in the London network.
At the beginning of January, we talked about our New Years Resolutions—to make Facebook simpler, more flexible, and to make our network structure more relevant. Today, we've fully launched a few changes that are an important first step towards keeping our resolutions.
We think these changes are really positive steps. Stay tuned to the blog over the next few days as our designers and engineers give more detail to the changes and the logic behind them.
Carolyn, Facebook's resident blogger, is still reeling from the number of friend requests generated by the Facebook Sneak Preview group.
A navigation and profile simplification—Ever feel like you couldn't find what you were looking for on that long left menu? We've redistributed all these menu options into "Core Aspects" on the top menu, "Applications" on the left menu, Settings on the top right, and everything else at the footer of the page. As for the profile, we've added drop-down menus to the top of every user's profile page, making it easier to get to the information you want to see. You can read more about the navigation changes here.
The introduction of "Inbox"—The former "My Messages" and "My Shares" pages have been redesigned to make the communication between you and your friends easier. Now you can send a group of your friends a message with or without a shared link, and easily track the ensuing conversation in one "thread" in your Inbox.
Network Pages—To make networks more relevant to their real-world counterparts, we've built out pages where network members, events, trends, and demographic info are displayed. Anything visible on a Network page is something that is already accessible to members of that network, and we've added additional "Publicize" options to groups and events that make it easy to distinguish what will and will not appear on your Network page. In addition, each page has a full version for members of the networks, and a public version—with certain kinds of information blocked—for people outside that network.
The introduction of "Inbox"—The former "My Messages" and "My Shares" pages have been redesigned to make the communication between you and your friends easier. Now you can send a group of your friends a message with or without a shared link, and easily track the ensuing conversation in one "thread" in your Inbox.
Network Pages—To make networks more relevant to their real-world counterparts, we've built out pages where network members, events, trends, and demographic info are displayed. Anything visible on a Network page is something that is already accessible to members of that network, and we've added additional "Publicize" options to groups and events that make it easy to distinguish what will and will not appear on your Network page. In addition, each page has a full version for members of the networks, and a public version—with certain kinds of information blocked—for people outside that network.
We think these changes are really positive steps. Stay tuned to the blog over the next few days as our designers and engineers give more detail to the changes and the logic behind them.
Carolyn, Facebook's resident blogger, is still reeling from the number of friend requests generated by the Facebook Sneak Preview group.
First of all – we're damn lucky to have such passionate users. Within seconds of publishing the blog post about the Facebook Sneak Preview group, we had hundreds of people sign up and start commenting. As I write this now, nearly two weeks later, we're well over 112,000 members.
![[image]](http://mowser.com/img?url=http%3A%2F%2Fphotos-439.ll.facebook.com%2Fphotos-ll-sf2p%2Fv76%2F75%2F57%2F500031439%2Fn500031439_44777_9133.jpg)
Our goal for the group was to put some of our ideas in front of you, see what you think, and get feedback on ways to improve. You gave us that, and way more than we could ever imagine. There are thousands of discussion threads with your suggestions on how to improve the site. Some of them are fantastic, like adding search to discussion threads.
Other threads were, well, a little more creative. There are certain things that are core to your experience on Facebook. Networks are one. Being able to have all of your friends on Facebook is another. So, we won't be removing the network structure or kicking high school students off the site any time soon. That would be lame.
Many of you had really constructive feedback on the screenshots that we posted. We definitely heard you, and actually have made some modifications in response. There was an overwhelmingly positive response to the new Network pages. You noticed that we brought back some of the Pulse data, and you wanted more. Okay, done. When we roll out the Network pages, there will be an entire section dedicated to the network-specific statistics.
Some of you were worried about privacy. Even though our plan for Network pages takes into account all of the existing privacy rules, we thought we could be more obvious. We're going to add a "publicize" option to event and group creation pages, so that it's clear how to prevent these from showing up on Network pages.
Oh, and those collapsible boxes on your profile—we've been toying with different ways to improve the navigability of the profile page. Given your feedback, we decided to keep those around until we can come up with an even cooler way to manage your information. These are only a few examples of the great feedback you gave us based on the screenshots.
One last thing. I'm not sure why—but many of you are concerned that we might become less like Facebook and more like other sites on the web. I assure you all, we're not changing the goodness that is Facebook. We're continually innovating, and we're likely to use some of your ideas in the near future. So, stay tuned.
Katie, Facebook's Director of Product, had to fight a very strong urge to delete every thread that was all caps.
March Madness has come and gone, but the craziness will continue for Jacob Dodson. Jacob claimed the top spot in Facebook's second annual College Basketball Tournament Pool, earning 177 points in getting 59 of the 63 games correct. Check out the final standings to see who claimed the rest of the $37,500 prize package.
![[image]](http://mowser.com/img?url=http%3A%2F%2Fphotos-439.ll.facebook.com%2Fphotos-ll-sf2p%2Fv71%2F75%2F57%2F500031439%2Fa500031439_44113_1244.jpg)
Not surprisingly, the University of Florida college network had the highest average score of all networks with 127.2 points. Also fittingly, the members of the Gainesville, FL regional network (122.0) led the way among regional networks, and the students of Oak Hall High School(124.1) in Gainesville averaged the highest among high school networks. Congratulations also go to the fine people of Wells Fargo (98.3), who topped all work networks. Oh, and of course to the Florida Gators for claiming their second straight national championship.
A huge thanks to everyone on Facebook who took part. Over 1.5 million people submitted brackets, making the Facebook pool one of the largest. Big thanks also to Intersport for providing us with video throughout the tournament, and to all our sponsors for helping foot the bill for all those prizes.
Ezra Callahan, the product manager for the tournament pool, finished at a disgraceful 1,069,275th place.
It may be an April 1st release, but this is no joke. We're giving away Thrift, a core part of our software infrastructure, as open source. If you follow this blog, then you probably already know about our use of the LAMP software stack and participation in other open source projects. But unless you work here, the first thing that probably springs to mind when it comes to "thrift" is that shady store with lots of smelly sweaters and shoulder-padded jackets.
![[image]](http://mowser.com/img?url=http%3A%2F%2Fphotos-f.ak.facebook.com%2Fphotos-ak-sf2p%2Fv75%2F75%2F57%2F500031439%2Fa500031439_43453_1823.jpg)
Looking for deals on sweet retro outfits?
We can't actually help you with that.
We can't actually help you with that.
Sorry to disappoint, but this isn't that kind of thrift. Ours has a capital T, and it's a software framework that takes one simple programming language and performs not-so-simple code generation to create programs that communicate easily and efficiently across many programming languages. As it turns out, computer languages aren't so different from people languages. Some things are just faster, easier, or more elegant in one than another. Ever tried to say "I love you" in German? Apologies to our German users, but it's no "Je t'adore." Parsing RSS in C++? Sounds tedious. Building an in-memory search index in PHP? Unfathomable!
Why are we giving it away? Many large corporations are famous for keeping this type of tool under lock and key, but we think we stand to gain much more by collaborating with other smart companies and developers. Plus, we figured a lot of you would really enjoy an inside look at some of the interesting software problems we're working on every day.
So what are you waiting for? Download the source:
http://developers.facebook
Mark, a Technical Lead at Facebook, is reasonably confident that software is actually happier when written by computers, not people.
Why are we giving it away? Many large corporations are famous for keeping this type of tool under lock and key, but we think we stand to gain much more by collaborating with other smart companies and developers. Plus, we figured a lot of you would really enjoy an inside look at some of the interesting software problems we're working on every day.
So what are you waiting for? Download the source:
http://developers.facebook
Mark, a Technical Lead at Facebook, is reasonably confident that software is actually happier when written by computers, not people.
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