Facebook is ready to roll out its latest ideas in terms of design, features and functionally, by inviting members of the Facebook community to try out the new version of the site, in limited numbers at first. The new design has been under development since early this year, with the involvement of over 100,000 users who offered suggestions regarding the layout and new features.

As Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg pointed out, the changes were necessary in order to highlight the more relevant information that users value, as well as to give users more control and ownership over their profiles. “Facebook’s new design makes it a lot easier for users to share information, and we encourage them to check it out.”

For now, only some of the users will be granted access to the new design, with wider availability coming up. These users will be able to navigate back and forth between the new and the old version of the site, Facebook revealed.

Among the enrolled features, Facebook brings the Wall to the front, providing users with a forum to post comments, photos and videos on, as well as content from third-party applications, and giving them complete control over the stories they put on their profile.

Navigation has been simplified with tabs, such as the Wall tab, the Info tab, the Photos tab and the Boxes tab, and users can add individual tabs of their own.

The new Facebook is about users’ power to control their own profiles, which is where the privacy options come in. Users will be able to control the users with whom they share information, as well as choose the information they want to put on their profile (contacts, photos, interests and more). The new content will Facebook’s over 80 million users in the coming days, the company announced.

One of the reasons behind this makeover was the overcrowded interface that made navigation difficult. When the company unveiled first details about the new website in May, it made some developers raise eyebrows about the changes, worried that an extra click might affect them.

On the other hand, there have also been positive reactions, with developers praising the new, fresh, more dynamic interface that is not as constricted as the old one and allows more room for breathing.