Friday, September 11, 2009

So, What's new about Facebook Lite?

Facebook Lite is here. So what's good about it? Simple. The Slimmer the better.
The new "Lite" Facebook is available for users of US and India.
Try it out for yourself here - http://lite.facebook.com
Facebook Lite at a glance is really clutter-free version of the Facebook "Classic". Newbies and those who find the original Facebook to be just a bit too noisy, will feel at ease with this newer look. It also pushes the old-school Facebook apps off a cliff, which is just as well for the newest Facebook-connected services.

Some visual changes include the deletion of the left navigation panel alongwith the removal of the bottom taskbar. The overall look and feel is quite soothing and uncluttered. The input box is removed with buttons like Write, Post Photos and Post Videos and these pop down only when needed.
Birthdays and Friend Requests are shown right on top followed by the normal news feed.

Here is a view of the two pages of the same account:
(Credit: Screenshot by Rafe Needleman/CNET)
Facebook Lite Version





Facebook Classic




Other small hard-to-identify tweaks include that the "Friends" tab is missing in the navigation bar. That is replaced by a small Events link.

All pages are cleaner, faster and easier to read, thanks to the Facebook team.
Part of the game is the HTML optimization Facebook's been working at. Advertisements are low on FB Lite but you never know once this thing begins rocking!

Better still, its fast, its efficient, what else do we need?
Something else...reply in comments.

Google just got bigger! Its a bigger search this time.

Google's just got bigger!
Not that it wasn't a giant after all, but Google has recently increased the size of its search box that the company says "will make it easier for people to use".
Google's vice president for search products and user experience, Marissa Mayer, said this teenie-weenie change to the Google hompage symbolizes Google's "Focus on Search". She says that these tiny adjustments to the search box's height and width would make it "even easier and more fun to use."
Google said in an e-mail message that the new search box is "roughly double the size of the (original) search box." The company also made its search buttons "more similar" for those viewing Google "on different operating systems and browsers." Even with a larger search box, the company's search still only allows for up to 2,048 characters in a single query.

Here's a side-by-side view of the two looks of Google: [Click on image to view larger]