On the heels of Facebook's announcement that all profiles will be switched to the now mandatory timeline format, the social networking site has rolled out yet another change to all its users--this time with its photo viewer.
The new design moves caption, comments and advertisements to the right-hand side of the picture. Previously, users could view captions and post comments directly below the photo.
Similar to the old lightbox photo-viewing interface, which rolled out in 2010, the new version pops out while the main page darkens behind it. The user can easily click through multiple photos using left and right arrow buttons, which appear when the mouse is hovered over the picture. Along with these arrows, "Like" and "Tag Photo" buttons and the album's name pop up below the picture. To exit the photo viewer, click the "x" at the top of the viewers, or click anywhere on the darkened-out page behind the tool.
This latest feature tweak is the first to roll out since Facebook filed for a $5 billion IPO last week.
Check out the screenshots (below) to see how the new format differs from the old.
NEW FACEBOOK PHOTO VIEWER:
OLD FACEBOOK LIGHTBOX:
To download or report a photo to Facebook, the user must look for the small wheel icon in the upper right-hand corner of the viewing pane and click on it to open a drop-down menu. If you uploaded that photo to Facebook, you'll be able to select more options like rotate right or left, set the photo as your profile picture, add a location tag and change the date.
PHOTO OPTIONS DROP-DOWN MENU:
As noted by PCWorld, there is a striking similarity between Facebook's new photo viewing interface and that of Google+. Indeed, the two tools appear remarkably similar, except that Google+ darkens out the entire page behind the photo viewer, while Facebook merely dims what's behind.
Check out the Google+ photo viewer (below), and tell us what you think of Facebook's new tweak in the comments.
GOOGLE+ PHOTO VIEWER:
