Facebook’s redesigned desktop site with dark mode is now available everywhere the company announced on Friday. When we initially wrote about the new version of Facebook, many complained that it was unavailable to them, and it was only acccesible if you opted into it starting in March and only in some markets.
In a blog post published today, Facebook says the new site will “now be the web experience for Facebook globally,” adding that “it’s faster, easier to use and gives your eyes a break with dark mode.”
The stand-out feature of the new version is dark mode, but the update also delivers another pretty dramatic overhaul. The home layout features a new less cluttered News Feed, enough empty space on the left and right rails, and larger icons and a menu bar that lets you easily jump to various parts of the app.
For those who want to turn on the new design and enable dark mode immediately, here’s how:
- Click on the down arrow at the end of the upper menu bar to pull up old Facebook’s settings menu.
- Click “Switch to new Facebook.”
- Click the same down arrow and toggle dark mode from off to on.
The new version put the focus back to the core web experience around the areas most people still enjoy using: events, groups, and messaging. It wasn’t quite the end of the News Feed per se, but more Facebook leadership admitted that it’s now an antiquated concept to have an algorithmic feed filled mostly with junk from pages and public posts.
Facebook has recognized that most people are retreating more and more into private groups and messaging, and the social media giants’s only core utility right now is that it’s still the best way to organize a large event with friends or reach out to someone you know whose contact info you don’t have.
