I Write LikeMar 27
A bit confused by the updates to the design for #Mastodon profiles. I like how it became easier to edit profiles and switch off boosts. The 'Following you' badge seemed logical and informative. The fact that the same info now requires a treasure hunt is puzzling.
I have no suggested featured hashtags. My Featured menu states I haven't set any hashtags, which doesn't reflect the reality; I have. They are hovering above my Activity with no label of what they are.
https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2026/03/a-redesign-for-profiles/
#design
A Redesign for Profiles

Sharing the design thinking for the new look coming to profile pages.

Mastodon Blog
Show threadFinchHaven sfba

@iwritelike

The newest Profile update is going to be a nightmare to understand or explain, forever

The Mastodon devs don't really ever seem to care about what they've unleashed on the general populace, every time they've done this

As far as I'll go here:

There is a major difference between my looking at your profile page, filtered through --> my <-- instance, which is back on v4.5.5, here:

https://sfba.social/@iwritelike@mastodon.social/

and your --> native <-- profile on Mastodon dot Social, running a "nightly" - currently v4.6.0-alpha.6+pr-38417-4d53956 here, which I have to open in a new, Private browser window to see

https://mastodon.social/@iwritelike

And that's about as far as I can get into it without completely losing my mind...

#Matodon #MastodonUpdate #Mastodon46Update

SFBA.social

Mar 27 at 12:28pmWeb
Show threadI Write LikeMar 27
@FinchHaven My profile on your instance looks the way it used to look on mine before the update. I'm attaching the screenshot of how your profile looks to me now through my instance, in case you are interested.
I do like the previous design more because it feels more natural to see the profile info going from top to bottom, rather than being fit into the space from left to right. Plus, there are the issues I wrote about in the post. I love the switch-off boosts toggle, though.
Show threadFinchHaven sfbaMar 27

@iwritelike

Oh, interesting!

Thank you for this, looks pretty OK, really!

Frankly I think we're all pretty much just stuck with what it's going to be as different instances upgrade to v4.6.*

It's going to be the confusion that'll be the real issue, and I'm not too sure how far down that rabbit hole I want to fall

Show threadI Write LikeMar 27
@FinchHaven I'm glad the screenshot was useful. The possible confusion for new users is what worries me the most, but maybe this is what any change feels like.
Show threadFinchHaven sfbaMar 27

@iwritelike

"The possible confusion for new users is what worries me the most, but maybe this is what any change feels like."

Which is interesting to see you bring up, because these major changes are pretty much always cast as "simplifying" Mastodon to make it "more understandable" for new users

Back in late 2022 Gargron got hit really hard by the whole techy-mag-bro opinion (mostly from The Verge) that "Mastodon is too hard" and he's been scrambling to make it "easy" ever since

Mastodon as an org has been fixated on newbie onboarding about as long as I've been here

It's not like maybe people can put in some time and learn how Mastodon works -- it's that it must be instantly understandable, instantly

(Please pardon my cynicism)

Show threadI Write LikeMar 27
@FinchHaven I think the aim to make Mastodon more intuitive for non-tech users was also mentioned in the blog post about the update. That's why the info about handles was added to each handle and can be accessed by pressing the "?" as you can see on the screenshot.
When I explain Mastodon to non-tech people, I call instances "rooms" or "planets". I feel like I lose them as soon as I mention "email clients", "servers" and "the ActivityPub protocol".