It may have taken senior economics major Essien-Ita Offiong only a few seconds to switch to the new Facebook layout, but just because it was an easy transition doesn’t mean it was a good one.

“I don’t like it,” Offiong said in McKeldin Library’s computer lab, immediately after changing over. “I liked Facebook the way it was, like, three years ago.”

Offiong is just one of many students who have greeted Facebook’s new design, which was launched on July 20, with dislike. The social networking mega-site has been developing the new Facebook since early this year, according to a statement on the website. More than 100,000 Facebook users offered suggestions on the layout during the six months prior to the launch date, and some were included in the final version, also according to the statement.

Facebook’s new design now splits profiles from being one page into several, with different tabs for a user’s wall, info, photos and applications. Although the statement says the site is now “simpler and cleaner” and users can opt back to their old Facebook design, some people aren’t too pleased.

For example, pre-existing Facebook groups such as, “I Want the Old Facebook Back,” “We Like the Old Facebook Better!,” “WE WANT THE OLD FACEBOOK BACK” and “BRING BACK OLD FACEBOOK” already had thousands of members. But since July 20, the groups have seen dozens of new members, many of whom have complaints about the website’s new design, which they argue isn’t as exciting as Facebook claims.

“It’s not simple,” Offiong said. “I don’t like the layout. It’s almost like widescreen.”

But reactions to the new Facebook aren’t all negative. Some users, such as Robert M. Jackson, said the site is “less cramped” and “aesthetically pleasing,” but complained about the frequency of Facebook design modifications.

“I kind of wish they would stop doing changes – maybe once a year,” he said.

Other users, such as junior mathematics major Lisa Hoffmaister, said the changes will just need some getting used to, while junior computer science major Mark Heneks said the new site is “pretty cool” overall. Both had seen similar formats on their iPhone Facebook application, and said they were becoming familiar with the format.

“It looks more like Web 2.0,” Heneks added.

Senior communication and philosophy major Roshini Chatlani, who said she was split “50-50” about the changes, also hinted at Facebook’s evolution: She joked the company should create its own version of Microsoft Word.

“Eventually, they’ll be their own software.”

The new Facebook design is available to users at www.new.facebook.com, and in the “coming weeks,” all Facebook users will automatically default to the new site design when logging in, according to the statement.

newsdesk@umd.edu