http://stumbleupon.com/sublog/the_new_stumbleupon_1_29_09/
With all members sharing a common interface for StumbleUpon.com, our service will become easier to use and maintain.
I don’t doubt that it’s easier to maintain, but please don’t pretend the changes are made for ease of use by us Stumblers. You’ve managed to create a cluttered, complicated and counter-intuitive interface. How is this easier to use?
Instead of Network or Friends info, my homepage shows stats and a tag cloud. I have no need to search my own blog (I wrote the damn thing, after all) and have no use for the ego-stroke of a stats display. Why isn’t the recent visitors info on my home page, or even a part of the Friends page, where it makes sense? You’ve segregated the “social networking” out of “social networking service”.
The new blog layouts are aiming for “subtle”; the line dividers between posts are so faint as to be practically invisible, and in the case of the groups, the emphasis is now put on the poster’s avatar, with the group avy made speck-sized. It’s difficult to tell where one Stumble ends and the next begins, or what group’s discussion you’re reading. And charcoal-text-on-black-background? Has no one in charge of look-and-feel ever read a basic usability text or design guideline?
If ever there was a web service that looked like it had been designed by a bunch of anti-social engineers, it’s the New SU.
**BUMPITY BUMP**
They also seem to have nuked – or possibly well hidden, since the new layout makes placement too complicated – Stumblers’ “Likes”. Is it still visible, or are we reduced to networking via craptacular tags now?