Cat's Journal

Proposed LJ changes *sigh*

https://ceruleancat.livejournal.com/72551.html

Originally posted by

ferneberga at Proposed LJ changes *sigh*

Originally posted by

hinky_hippo at Proposed LJ changes *sigh*

Originally posted by

hawk_soaring at Proposed LJ changes *sigh*

Originally posted by

bluespirit_star at Proposed LJ changes *sigh*

Thanks to

nakeisha for the heads-up on this.

I don't usually mind when LJ makes changes (some have been good, others not so much, but there's normally a work around or I just get used to it) but this idea of introducing a Tumblr style format to the flist page has made me feel the need to speak up (& go over & leave a comment.)

I can't get along with Tumblr for some reason (it just doesn't work visually for me) & I really don't want to have it imposed on me. It's fine if it's offered as an option for folk who do want it, but I'd like to make that choice myself.
Let's hope enough people comment (politely & rationally) & our voices can be heard.
*fc*

Originally posted by

agentxpndble at Yeah, this one is bad...

Please speak up at the places suggested below...

Originally posted by

twissie at LiveJournal

So, after nearly a decade at this site, LJ finally does something that makes me actually rage. No popcorn and laughing as the masses storm to news posts complaining, this time I'm actually worried.

A while back I was invited to help out with BETA testing new LJ services (I got this invite via

lj_releases</lj>).

They have just announced BETA testing of a new friendslist.

LJ is planning on redoing everyone's friendslists in the style of the new comment page and update page. They want to copy tumblr and make your friendslist into a dashboard-like system page (infinite scrolling and all). It's also been renamed to "feed" (this I don't mind too much, though). In fact the whole dashboard idea with infinite scrolling wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that everyone will be locked to one specific layout. The system style comment pages are bad enough, but now I'll have to strain my eyes reading my flist? That defeats the purpose of this entire site. The font, use of whitespace, oversized boxes and UI elements ... all contribute to making the page difficult to read, on a site where all you do is read. Aaaah. Even just the possibility of adjusting the font (style and size) would make this suggestion easier to swallow, but it's still not something I'd want for my journal. It would not improve my LJ experience in any way (in fact it would most likely make my daily LJ activities more time consuming).

Now, I wasn't able to make the BETA page display my own friendslist, so I apologise to the random users who are featured in the screenshot, but to give everyone an idea, the below image shows you what your friendslist probably will look like in a couple of months.

(Click for big)

All friendslists will look the same.

Snippet from the locked post at

lj_releases</lj>:

The friends page has been redesigned as a system page for all users, and is now available for Beta testers. There is a link at the top of your friends page allowing you to switch between the new and old versions, and will later go into public beta testing. You can switch back and forth between both versions throughout beta testing.

I wish I had a public link for you to leave comments at, but the best option is probably just to leave comments on the newest public entry at

lj_releases</lj>.

I wish I had a public link for you to leave comments at, but the best option is probably just to leave comments on the newest public entry at lj_releases.

You can also see the proposed changes for yourself by enabling the BETA on your own journal (instructions from

ruljautonews</lj>):

It's trivially easy to test beta features.
1) Go to

lj_ru_beta</lj> and request to join.
2) Wait to get confirmation that you've been accepted into the community (this could take a few hours.)
3) Go to this page and choose Go To under Beta.
4) That's it, you're now testing the beta release. All site-scheme pages should now display a big "BETA BETA BETA BETA BETA BETA" in yellow letters across the top.
5) You could make comments in the

lj_ru_beta</lj> post, but if you do please keep this in mind: the majority of commenters there don't speak English and if they do it's not their primary language. Machine translation of Russian is lousy. "My hovercraft is full of eels" lousy. While you can engage in basic dialogue and get a feel for what the other person is saying, don't get too hung up on anyone's phrasing.

You can easily switch back to the old version.

Make sure you let LJ know what you think of these proposed changes, I can't be the only one who thinks this is a horrible idea.

ETA: It's nice to see that I'm not the only one worried about the proposed changes, but please direct your feedback through the proper channels. This is a private journal, I have no affiliation with LJ. Please also be respectful when addressing the LJ staff. They are just doing their jobs. Thanks!