Facebook Page Landing Tabs Break Due To Bug

Webtrends Landing Tab ~~Facebook has finally pushed out the readjusted size of Facebook Page landing tabs, something they first announced months ago~~. A bug in Facebook’s FBML proxy/cache resizing for images has broken many Facebook landing tabs. ~~The new width is 520 pixels, down from 760 pixels. This change has come as a surprise for many, some of which had not created Facebook Pages until recently.~~ The result is that landing tabs have become blurry for many as Facebook has automatically resized landing tab images to be smaller.

(Please view our update at the bottom about the bug)
While the Facebook Developer Roadmap has not been updated to signify the impending change, many Facebook Page administrators awoke this morning to find their landing tabs effectively broken. While many administrators will rush to make changes, some have sent us complaints that they weren’t given any notification. Ultimately it’s difficult for Facebook to notify all administrators, however we agree that they could have sent out an email or placed an alert at the top of Pages for administrators.

Even our own Facebook Page is now broken, although we were aware of the shift and have had months to change them. Why Facebook decided to push out the change last night we’re not sure, but our guess is that this new shift allows Facebook to eventually add wider advertisements, something the company first began testing last April.

If you haven’t adjusted your Facebook Page landing tab for this new size, now would be a good time to do so! The new width is 520 pixels, so I’d make the change now, even if your Facebook Page has not been automatically resized (as ours has).

Update
It appears that this was not a permanent push. Instead it’s a bug with Facebook’s image caching. Apparently it will be fixed later today. You can find the bug here.

Thanks to Brian Leimone of 140ology for tipping us off about the issue.

Tags:Pages

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1469229 Comments2010-05-27+15%3A01%3A36Nick+O%27Neill »

There´s a Bugfix in Process for the Image Size problems:

http://bugs.developers.facebook.com/show_bug.cgi?...

I don´t think they start the process right now.

BR Philipp

Comment by Philipp — May 27, 2010 @ 7:06 am
Just mailed with the guys behind http://www.pagemodo.com, the new page builder will be online next week and it is on 520px! So I don't have to pay my freelance graphic artist to make a new page, you can follow here: http://www.facebook.com/pagemodo Very interesting product..

Comment by Jakob Pedersen — May 27, 2010 @ 7:15 am
And although it will be blurry in IE 8 & Firefox, it will be "choppy" in IE7 and below which don't use smooth resizing.

Comment by Jesse Ferrell — May 27, 2010 @ 7:30 am
whats strange is many of my custom backgrounds are still showing as 750 pixels wide but the image has been shrunk and tiled to there are now 2-3 smaller versions of the same image in the tab. But the overall tab width is still over 520 pixels.

examples:

http://www.facebook.com/iwinereview http://www.facebook.com/JMichaelCisnerosDDS

Comment by Greg Lawrence — May 27, 2010 @ 7:38 am
According to the Facebook Developer Forum it is due to a Facebook change and afterwards bug – not due to the implementation of the new page width:
http://bugs.developers.facebook.com/show_bug.cgi?...

Comment by Daniel Bæk — May 27, 2010 @ 7:40 am
Every single landing page is blurry. I tried re-sizing the graphic to 520 pixels wide, but its still blurry!? Also, Facebook, thanks for the heads up! Friends like these, who needs enemies. You just cost me about 4 to 5 hours of work!

Comment by Andrew Giles — May 27, 2010 @ 7:47 am
Can someone please post the HTML code you're using now if it works!?

Comment by Andrew Giles — May 27, 2010 @ 7:49 am
Some of my tabs have been affected on some of the pages I admin – but on one page, one tab has been affected to the point of not showing any graphics, the tab next to it is fine and unaffected. Its hit and miss so far.

Comment by donna m — May 27, 2010 @ 7:55 am
Now it appears even when I put a new image up that is 520 wide, the image is being resized to 250 pixels. When I put in the HTML code for a "Width=520" the image is super blurry.

Looks like they've changed things but they aren't "ready" yet.

Comment by Greg Lawrence — May 27, 2010 @ 8:03 am
Every page I just tested still displays at 760px.

I thought I saw something where FB decided not to make the shrink change. Do we have any confirmation from FB that this has happened and is still being rolled out?

Comment by Yonkers — May 27, 2010 @ 8:08 am
This doesn't have anything to do with the upcoming 520px width, I don't *think*….

It's a bug and while we wait for Facebook to fix it, I figured out a fairly easy fix: making sure tags have the height/width dimension, and if you're using background images via CSS, make sure you use an external stylesheet. Here's my post: http://www.hyperarts.com/blog/facebook-shrinking-...

Comment by Tim Ware — May 27, 2010 @ 8:52 am
Just noticed this morning that our image shrunk. So I'm guessing that are or already have made the change.

Comment by zach — May 27, 2010 @ 10:16 am
Facebook has messed everthing up! My old pages do not appear AT ALL on my profile and my groups do not appear under the INFO tab! Help!!

Comment by question — May 27, 2010 @ 10:44 am
Since we run a service offering DIY FB landing page designs, we noticed the image resizing issue happening in the middle of the day yesterday. Here is an explanation of the problem by Jerry Cain, Facebook software developer (from FB developer forum):

"We noticed that images weren't being proxied when the application tabs were loading. That means the domains hosting the images are pinged directly every single time the tab is rendered, and that can be used to discern who the logged in user is, what page they navigated from, etc. We pushed the proxying fix this afternoon, but the fix incorrectly introduced downsizing and downsampling when it didn't have to. The fix I just checked in still proxies the image, but at the original size and bit depth."

As noted in your article, they've said the fix is coming this afternoon, though we haven't noticed any changes yet.

With this coming right on the heels of the (very temporary) default landing page change last week, FB seems to be doing a lot of tinkering with FBML pages. Just read also that the width change (to 520 pixels wide) are coming in late July, but that they would give administrators 2 weeks notice before the change is affected.

Candis Hidalgo

FaceItPages.com

Comment by FaceItPages — May 27, 2010 @ 12:39 pm
Greg- I tested the same thing on a demo tab I had… the original pic was 518 wide (I have been coding to 518 since the announcement months ago)… most of my tabs (20+ clients) were coded w/external css and most imgs forcibly sized. They have all survived unaffected. But I forgot a few.. and they were resized them as per everyone's nightmare this morning.

So I did what you did… re uploaded a new graphic, diff name, and coded the size correctly. And FB still fuzzies it.

So I guess we sit tight and wait.

Comment by Ken Hood — May 27, 2010 @ 12:41 pm
Courtesy of Facebook Software Developer Jerry Cain:

We noticed that images weren't being proxied when the application tabs were loading. That means the domains hosting the images are pinged directly every single time the tab is rendered, and that can be used to discern who the logged in user is, what page they navigated from, etc. We pushed the proxying fix this afternoon, but the fix incorrectly introduced downsizing and downsampling when it didn't have to. The fix I just checked in still proxies the image, but at the original size and bit depth.

Comment by Ryan Cohn — May 27, 2010 @ 1:51 pm
Courtesy of Facebook Software Developer Jerry Cain, 5/27 2:53AM EST:

"We noticed that images weren't being proxied when the application tabs were loading. That means the domains hosting the images are pinged directly every single time the tab is rendered, and that can be used to discern who the logged in user is, what page they navigated from, etc. We pushed the proxying fix this afternoon, but the fix incorrectly introduced downsizing and downsampling when it didn't have to. The fix I just checked in still proxies the image, but at the original size and bit depth."

And… "I'll try to push this out as soon as possible, at the latest tomorrow afternoon."

Comment by Ryan Cohn — May 27, 2010 @ 2:38 pm
Does anyone know when FB will make the actual change to 520 pixels or if they even plan on doing so?

Comment by mk — May 27, 2010 @ 3:20 pm
but what's the solution ! if you said that According to the Facebook Developer Forum it is due to a Facebook change and afterwards bug – not due to the implementation of the new page widht are we invited to wait?

all tabs still showing as 750 pixels , the problem is with the pictures!

Comment by moez — May 28, 2010 @ 1:50 am
christ, get your act together FB! how they can promote and allow advertisers to use their platform and then roll out changes in a hodge-podge way like this is beyond me. so anyone who might have had media in the market pointing to their facebook fan page is just SOL for that spend?

Comment by Soumik Pal — May 28, 2010 @ 5:50 am
Ugh – what a royal pain in the butt. Literally the DAY that I posted my client's new landing page, FB rolled out this stupid, apparently untested, change. I know I'm not the only one who came out looking like a flake when my client asked, "Is the image SUPPOSED to be duplicated four times on my landing page?" I spent HOURS (probably upwards of 4) trying to figure out what I'd done wrong (testing various code rewrites, trying different image types, etc.), until I finally found this page. Not only did FB roll out something that worked badly, it also failed to provide sufficient notice to designers. What a joke.

Comment by Jamie Gough — May 28, 2010 @ 8:39 am
As an advertiser, this really screwed up a major launch we had on FB yesterday. We pay good money for paid ads and our tab gets screwed up as soon as we launch. FB needs to re-think it's treatment of advertisers and our developers and get communication on code changes out in a timely fashion.

Comment by Dave Bazant At Sears — May 28, 2010 @ 10:13 am
DOES ANYONE KNOW IF THIS ISSUE HAS BEEN FIXED? ALL OF MY IMAGES ARE STILL EMPTY BOX WITH QUESTION MARKS.

PLEASE HELP!

Comment by KH — May 28, 2010 @ 10:34 am
Can someone please tell me the Width and height that we can use for our profile pictures?

Comment by al — May 28, 2010 @ 3:31 pm
What is the latest with this? I still see lots of FB pages that have the full layout. Have they changed it back, or have they just not rolled this out totally yet? Does anyone know what is happening with this?

Sean

Comment by sean — June 7, 2010 @ 6:38 pm
This is really latest. I still haven't not see this type of layout I think

Comment by Facebook App — July 20, 2011 @ 7:21 am
Wow! that is really innovative and i need it, thanks for sharing such a nice post

Comment by Blackberry App — July 20, 2011 @ 7:24 am
All developer needs these kinds of things.

Comment by Mesothelioma — August 11, 2011 @ 12:46 am
Thanks for sharing your website.This blogs are very informative. I really say thanks to you.

Comment by Social Application — January 23, 2012 @ 5:35 am

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

There´s a Bugfix in Process for the Image Size problems:

http://bugs.developers.facebook.com/show_bug.cgi?...

I don´t think they start the process right now.

BR Philipp

Comment by Philipp — May 27, 2010 @ 7:06 am

Just mailed with the guys behind http://www.pagemodo.com, the new page builder will be online next week and it is on 520px! So I don't have to pay my freelance graphic artist to make a new page, you can follow here: http://www.facebook.com/pagemodo Very interesting product..

Comment by Jakob Pedersen — May 27, 2010 @ 7:15 am

And although it will be blurry in IE 8 & Firefox, it will be "choppy" in IE7 and below which don't use smooth resizing.

Comment by Jesse Ferrell — May 27, 2010 @ 7:30 am

whats strange is many of my custom backgrounds are still showing as 750 pixels wide but the image has been shrunk and tiled to there are now 2-3 smaller versions of the same image in the tab. But the overall tab width is still over 520 pixels.

examples:

http://www.facebook.com/iwinereview http://www.facebook.com/JMichaelCisnerosDDS

Comment by Greg Lawrence — May 27, 2010 @ 7:38 am

According to the Facebook Developer Forum it is due to a Facebook change and afterwards bug – not due to the implementation of the new page width:
http://bugs.developers.facebook.com/show_bug.cgi?...

Comment by Daniel Bæk — May 27, 2010 @ 7:40 am

Every single landing page is blurry. I tried re-sizing the graphic to 520 pixels wide, but its still blurry!? Also, Facebook, thanks for the heads up! Friends like these, who needs enemies. You just cost me about 4 to 5 hours of work!

Comment by Andrew Giles — May 27, 2010 @ 7:47 am

Can someone please post the HTML code you're using now if it works!?

Comment by Andrew Giles — May 27, 2010 @ 7:49 am

Some of my tabs have been affected on some of the pages I admin – but on one page, one tab has been affected to the point of not showing any graphics, the tab next to it is fine and unaffected. Its hit and miss so far.

Comment by donna m — May 27, 2010 @ 7:55 am

Now it appears even when I put a new image up that is 520 wide, the image is being resized to 250 pixels. When I put in the HTML code for a "Width=520" the image is super blurry.

Looks like they've changed things but they aren't "ready" yet.

Comment by Greg Lawrence — May 27, 2010 @ 8:03 am

Every page I just tested still displays at 760px.

I thought I saw something where FB decided not to make the shrink change. Do we have any confirmation from FB that this has happened and is still being rolled out?

Comment by Yonkers — May 27, 2010 @ 8:08 am

This doesn't have anything to do with the upcoming 520px width, I don't *think*….

It's a bug and while we wait for Facebook to fix it, I figured out a fairly easy fix: making sure tags have the height/width dimension, and if you're using background images via CSS, make sure you use an external stylesheet. Here's my post: http://www.hyperarts.com/blog/facebook-shrinking-...

Comment by Tim Ware — May 27, 2010 @ 8:52 am

Just noticed this morning that our image shrunk. So I'm guessing that are or already have made the change.

Comment by zach — May 27, 2010 @ 10:16 am

Facebook has messed everthing up! My old pages do not appear AT ALL on my profile and my groups do not appear under the INFO tab! Help!!

Comment by question — May 27, 2010 @ 10:44 am

Since we run a service offering DIY FB landing page designs, we noticed the image resizing issue happening in the middle of the day yesterday. Here is an explanation of the problem by Jerry Cain, Facebook software developer (from FB developer forum):

"We noticed that images weren't being proxied when the application tabs were loading. That means the domains hosting the images are pinged directly every single time the tab is rendered, and that can be used to discern who the logged in user is, what page they navigated from, etc. We pushed the proxying fix this afternoon, but the fix incorrectly introduced downsizing and downsampling when it didn't have to. The fix I just checked in still proxies the image, but at the original size and bit depth."

As noted in your article, they've said the fix is coming this afternoon, though we haven't noticed any changes yet.

With this coming right on the heels of the (very temporary) default landing page change last week, FB seems to be doing a lot of tinkering with FBML pages. Just read also that the width change (to 520 pixels wide) are coming in late July, but that they would give administrators 2 weeks notice before the change is affected.

Candis Hidalgo

FaceItPages.com

Comment by FaceItPages — May 27, 2010 @ 12:39 pm

Greg- I tested the same thing on a demo tab I had… the original pic was 518 wide (I have been coding to 518 since the announcement months ago)… most of my tabs (20+ clients) were coded w/external css and most imgs forcibly sized. They have all survived unaffected. But I forgot a few.. and they were resized them as per everyone's nightmare this morning.

So I did what you did… re uploaded a new graphic, diff name, and coded the size correctly. And FB still fuzzies it.

So I guess we sit tight and wait.

Comment by Ken Hood — May 27, 2010 @ 12:41 pm

Courtesy of Facebook Software Developer Jerry Cain:

We noticed that images weren't being proxied when the application tabs were loading. That means the domains hosting the images are pinged directly every single time the tab is rendered, and that can be used to discern who the logged in user is, what page they navigated from, etc. We pushed the proxying fix this afternoon, but the fix incorrectly introduced downsizing and downsampling when it didn't have to. The fix I just checked in still proxies the image, but at the original size and bit depth.

Comment by Ryan Cohn — May 27, 2010 @ 1:51 pm

Courtesy of Facebook Software Developer Jerry Cain, 5/27 2:53AM EST:

And… "I'll try to push this out as soon as possible, at the latest tomorrow afternoon."

Comment by Ryan Cohn — May 27, 2010 @ 2:38 pm

Does anyone know when FB will make the actual change to 520 pixels or if they even plan on doing so?

Comment by mk — May 27, 2010 @ 3:20 pm

but what's the solution ! if you said that According to the Facebook Developer Forum it is due to a Facebook change and afterwards bug – not due to the implementation of the new page widht are we invited to wait?

all tabs still showing as 750 pixels , the problem is with the pictures!

Comment by moez — May 28, 2010 @ 1:50 am

christ, get your act together FB! how they can promote and allow advertisers to use their platform and then roll out changes in a hodge-podge way like this is beyond me. so anyone who might have had media in the market pointing to their facebook fan page is just SOL for that spend?

Comment by Soumik Pal — May 28, 2010 @ 5:50 am

Ugh – what a royal pain in the butt. Literally the DAY that I posted my client's new landing page, FB rolled out this stupid, apparently untested, change. I know I'm not the only one who came out looking like a flake when my client asked, "Is the image SUPPOSED to be duplicated four times on my landing page?" I spent HOURS (probably upwards of 4) trying to figure out what I'd done wrong (testing various code rewrites, trying different image types, etc.), until I finally found this page. Not only did FB roll out something that worked badly, it also failed to provide sufficient notice to designers. What a joke.

Comment by Jamie Gough — May 28, 2010 @ 8:39 am

As an advertiser, this really screwed up a major launch we had on FB yesterday. We pay good money for paid ads and our tab gets screwed up as soon as we launch. FB needs to re-think it's treatment of advertisers and our developers and get communication on code changes out in a timely fashion.

Comment by Dave Bazant At Sears — May 28, 2010 @ 10:13 am

DOES ANYONE KNOW IF THIS ISSUE HAS BEEN FIXED? ALL OF MY IMAGES ARE STILL EMPTY BOX WITH QUESTION MARKS.

PLEASE HELP!

Comment by KH — May 28, 2010 @ 10:34 am

Can someone please tell me the Width and height that we can use for our profile pictures?

Comment by al — May 28, 2010 @ 3:31 pm

What is the latest with this? I still see lots of FB pages that have the full layout. Have they changed it back, or have they just not rolled this out totally yet? Does anyone know what is happening with this?

Sean

Comment by sean — June 7, 2010 @ 6:38 pm

This is really latest. I still haven't not see this type of layout I think

Comment by Facebook App — July 20, 2011 @ 7:21 am

Wow! that is really innovative and i need it, thanks for sharing such a nice post

Comment by Blackberry App — July 20, 2011 @ 7:24 am

All developer needs these kinds of things.

Comment by Mesothelioma — August 11, 2011 @ 12:46 am

Thanks for sharing your website.This blogs are very informative. I really say thanks to you.

Comment by Social Application — January 23, 2012 @ 5:35 am

Facebook Page Landing Tabs Break Due To Bug

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Jobs of the Day

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See all jobs

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