Exploring the New Homepage – Now in Beta Testing!
As you’ve learned from previous posts (here and here), today we’re announcing the beginning of Beta testing for a new LinkedIn homepage. Here I am in conversation with our community evangelist, Mario Sundar, describing what's different in the redesigned homepage.
Check out our new redesigned beta page here (Just to make sure to sign in so you can see it)
Here are the four things to notice:
• A Cleaner Design – We’ve really tried to simplify and clean-up the page, making it easier to pick out the information you need.
• New Navigation Elements – We’re also experimenting with a new style of navigation. Instead of the tab system on the site today, we’ve implemented a set of drop-down menus for the key site functions (People, Jobs, and Answers) and an additional personal navigation area for managing your own Profile and Network.
We hope that this updated style makes it easier to navigate the site and serves to better highlight the key functionality of LinkedIn to all of our members. As we complete the Beta testing, we hope to bring this navigation to the rest of the site as well.
• Professional Dashboard – Right below the personal navigation area, is your new professional dashboard reflecting your key profile and network information.
We hope that this dashboard serves as an easy reminder of the current state of your LinkedIn profile and network – allowing you to easily manage your LinkedIn professional identity and your network contacts.
• New Customizable Application Modules – Last but not least, right below the advertisement in the right column is a new area for customizable application modules. This where you can install applications that leverage your LinkedIn network to deliver the opportunities you need.
There are 3 modules available right now (with many more to come soon):
o People Search – allows you to search for people in your network that can help you accomplish your professional goals
o Job Search – allows you to search for jobs that are of interest
o Answers – allows you to monitor the questions LinkedIn members are asking their networks and the responses they are getting.
When you first look at the page, you’ll note that we pre-installed some modules that we thought might be interesting. You can edit the searches that these modules conduct by clicking on the “edit” link next to the module’s title and can add additional modules via the “Add a Module” button at the bottom. You can also remove modules by clicking the “x” button in the module’s title and even drag-and-drop the modules in order to rearrange them.
Anyway, we hope you enjoy the changes. Feel free to let me know what you think via comments on this post.
Thomas Clifford Dec 13, 2007
Hi Elliot,
You've no doubt seen the Answers section lately...
Folks here want to know how to turn off or customize the news feed. That's a biggie.
For instance, my news feed articles are something that I would not read; they're not related to my work. But if I could customize it, now that'd be something I think a lot of LI users would find helpful.
The application modules are a start. Adding several more apps, again, gives the user the flexibility to access better and more information in a glance.
Nice to see some efforts this way.
Tom
Corporate Filmmaker
Michał Dec 14, 2007
I love that the default width has been increased. With currently used monitors and resolutions it's just bad to have websites use only a tiny share of the screen. Now I get more information in a cleaner fashion with less scrolling.
The menu overhaul is a bit confusing at first. I'll probably have to get used to having some links on the right and some on top, although the drop-down menus are right on. Much faster to get to a page I need.
Network stats take less space now and I like that as well. No need to have them take such a large amount of space, since the whole page is about people (ie. network updates) and not about numbers.
Now if only the network updates list was stable... Right now it's a complete mystery when and which updates will be shown, which will disappear and which will linger on for ages.
Zdravko Stoychev Dec 18, 2007
I love the changes. One question tho, I expected to see OpenID support in any way; either as a login alternative, or as a Provider. There are rumors about LinkedIn - OpenID already, so could you enlighten on this, please.
Cathy Jan 19, 2008
I am new to Linkedln, many areas to explore and aleady impressed by the expertise within this community.
Will be observing on a regular basis and expanding my knowledge. Appreciate suggestions and comments...
brandt Jul 2, 2008
Have the application modules been pulled from the Profile Pages? I've read/heard about them, but they are not present on my Profile Page.