

Facebook Design Getting All Hipster - ajhit406
http://www.facebook.com/designjobs/

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johnyzee
"Move fast and break stuff" - they're actually proud of that shit?

I heard that line before but I didn't realize they had made it their mantra. I
wonder if they realize how it rings to all the third party developers who are
fighting a daily struggle against the notoriously fickle Facebook APIs.

~~~
m3koval
Well, that explains a lot. Every time I attempt to accomplish something on
Facebook, one of two things happens: (1) the interface has changed in some way
or (2) the feature is broken. Just last week, every "Load More" link was
broken in Google Chrome (but worked in Firefox). The week before, I wasn't
able to upload photos repeatedly failed, but the iPhoto integration worked
fine.

Agile development is great, but Facebook is a mature product: I wish they
would keep the breaking to internal test builds.

~~~
shalinmangar
Why would they? They get free QA this way.

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Tichy
Why is the word "Hipster" suddenly trending so much?
[http://trends.google.com/trends?q=hipster&ctab=0&geo...](http://trends.google.com/trends?q=hipster&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0)

~~~
GrangalanJr
Good question. I'm not sure what the recent momentum is about, but I remember
two widely-linked stories about "hipsters" and "hipsterdom" back in 2007 and
2008:

[http://newyork.timeout.com/things-to-do/this-week-in-new-
yor...](http://newyork.timeout.com/things-to-do/this-week-in-new-
york/8355/why-the-hipster-must-die)

<http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/79/hipster.html>

It's interesting to note that "hipster" really started ramping up after "emo"
had started sliding downward:

[http://trends.google.com/trends?q=emo%2C+hipster&ctab=0&...](http://trends.google.com/trends?q=emo%2C+hipster&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0)

I compare the two because they are both subcultural labels that have become
terms of abuse in fairly recent years.

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sriramk
In case folks don't realize, the image changes on reload

~~~
treyp
if you'd like to cycle through the background images, go to the site and paste
this in your URL bar:

    
    
      javascript:document.getElementsByTagName('a')[0].onclick=function(e){e.preventDefault();document.body.id=switcher[(switcher.indexOf(document.body.id)+1)%switcher.length]};void(0);
    

now each time you click the facebook logo, the next background image will load

edit: in related news, it looks like Chrome won't let you paste javascript
links into your URL bar. you may need to manually type the 'javascript:' part
at the beginning.

~~~
mike-cardwell
Interesting. I just did that in Firefox 5 and the following message popped up:

"javascript: and data: URIs typed or pasted in the address bar are disabled to
prevent social engineering attacks. Developers can enable them for testing
purposes by toggling the "noscript.allowURLBarJS" preference."

I guess that is a new FF5 feature.

EDIT: Oh. That's NoScript, not Firefox. Will read more carefully next time.

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manifold
The text is illegible against a good number of the background images they've
chosen (at least on a mobile browser). That doesn't seem like a good advert
for a design team, or am I missing the point?

~~~
cmelbye
I could read the text fine. It seems like they even set it up so that the text
turns black or white based on the lightness or darkness of the current
background.

~~~
manifold
They have, but it hasn't worked particularly well: <http://imgur.com/PSvIm>

~~~
indigoviolet
I'm curious, what browser/OS are you using? Your screenshots look different
from my view of the site, specifically, the text is either displaced or
enlarged in your screenshots, making it look weird.

~~~
manifold
Safari on iOS 4.3.3; standard 3GS setup.

~~~
indigoviolet
Interesting. I'll file a bug. Thanks for the info.

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ajays
Can someone please photoshop the background image to spell something, ahem,
more interesting? <http://dragon.ak.fbcdn.net/cfs-ak-snc6/84980/796/hack.jpg>

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ajhit406
Saw this ad via the deck on @Dribbble.

Not sure, but I saw some pics of some devs who built a loft in the facebook
office and thought this picture might have been the loft.

~~~
ajhit406
Whoa, refreshed the page and the image changed!

Checked the source and found this, haha:

<!--

    
    
      Facebook - The Deck Ad (Summer 2011)
      ====================================
     
      If you're looking at our html, this is a good thing.
      You should reach out to our design team recruiter directly.
     
      Drop a line to Greg Hoy at: Greg Hoy <greghoy@fb.com>
     

\-->

~~~
waterlesscloud
I saw that, wondered who wouldn't look at the html just out of habit...

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mbesto
Ha, does everyone else do that too? I always feel like I'm alone.

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swah
I come here to tell you, you are not alone my friend.

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marknutter
Reminds me of the British The Office show's intro:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKTvAP06ECM>

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jerrya
I am such a facebook noob. When I think of facebook design, all that comes to
mind is walls of light blue text on white and pages and functionality that I
find difficult to navigate.

What am I missing?

(I did that reloading background image thing back in 99 if I recall, but you
don't find my valuation at 20 gazillion dollars. :( )

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DuqE
Clearly ahead of your time, my friend. If Facebook does it, it's cool...

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tedsbardella
That one picture looks like something out of a Japanese horror film

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benihana
Please note, bold design and strong typography !== hipster.

