Facebook Cookbook

Navigating the Applications Menu

Problem

The Applications menu seems really sophisticated and slick. How does it work?

Solution

There used to be a Left Nav, which was the area that ran vertically down the left edge of Facebook’s main content area and included the Facebook logo, search box, users’ installed Applications, and a “skyscraper” format ad. That was removed in the Profile redesign of mid-2008, in favor of a site-wide Applications menu in the blue bar at the top of each page, as shown in Figure 2-10.

Figure 2-10. Page header with Applications menu

Clicking on Applications opens the menu shown in Figure 2-11.

Figure 2-11. Applications menu open

The menu is divided into three sections: the top contains commands related to the current app or to all apps; the second lists the five most recent apps in which you’ve viewed at least one Canvas page; and the third lists all of the apps you’ve “bookmarked,” which includes all of the apps you’ve added to your Profile.

Selecting “Bookmark [App Name]” opens a pop-up dialog (shown in Figure 2-12) with a checkbox indicating the current state of the bookmark.

Figure 2-12. Bookmark application dialog

This is slightly confusing because the menu item should ...