14 DAY TRIAL // Facebook has a lot on its plate, Google is launching a new assault with Buzz, Twitter is always a threat, and its growth, Facebook is now at 400 million users, is a blessing as much as it is a burden. For all the things Facebook gets right, there are as many it gets wrong, especially when it comes to the site itself. The recent redesign addressed some of the issues, and likely created others, but one area is still in need of a significant revamp, the photo section. Things are moving though and, after starting to roll out an improved photo uploader, Facebook has also launched a new slideshow feature in testing.
Facebook launched a Prototypes section a few months back to house experimental features which aren't ready for mass consumption or just aren't fit for everyone. If you're getting a sense of déjà vu, it's because Google has been doing it for years now with Google Labs, a very similar tool to Facebook's. Since then, it has been making good use of it and one area which benefited the most has been Photos.
A new photo uploader was first introduced as a prototype giving Facebook time to test it. The tool is now going live for everyone only a couple or so after being introduced. The new slideshow feature is probably going to share the same fate, though it could probably benefit from a little more time in the oven.
"Slideshow enables a "Play" button on Facebook Photo pages which initiates a slideshow of the set of photos you are currently viewing," reads the Slideshow Prototype page. The description is as accurate as it gets, all it does is add a "Play" button and that's it. There's no way to set the time between switches, it's pretty short at the moment, there's no fullscreen option. All you can do is pause the slideshow and then start it again. That said, this should change soon enough as the feature evolves and it may even graduate from prototype phase in time for the upcoming photo size limit increase. Still, considering that Facebook is the world's largest online photo host, things are moving rather slowly.