I particularly don't want:

1. "featured styles" esp. when they're pink and lavender. I don't want to have to see them every time I use LJ.

2. "virtual gifts" do not use, do not want

3. "writer's block" if it's going to be a big fat intrusive thing (and I can live without it happily altogether

I particularly miss:

1. the "last updated" function, which I found very useful when the browser hung up.

2. lack of any link whatsoever to LJ itself

3. Comments being visible without scrolling down--and the number showing being cut.

And now it looks like the ability to edit posts has been cut, too. (Was going to add this to the post, but...no edit button.

I'm afraid I simply never look at my home page; I have Firefox as a browser, and it has a very convenient add-on called LJ-Apps, so I can just click on the friends' page, or the posting button, from the bottom left-hand bar of my browser.

It does? I use Firefox and didn't know about that app. Thanks for giving me the name, because then I can finally get rid of that new annoyance!

Sorry - I was very tired (have since had a nap) - it's called LJ Add-ons. Wonderful app!

I can't help with re-organising the homepage (I never look there myself) - but possibly if you change the site scheme that you are using then you can get back some of the functionality you want - like a link for editing entries.

If you go here: http://www.livejournal.com/manage/settings/?cat=display and then change where it says site scheme to be "Vertigo" then there'll be a bar on the left hand side of the page with all the menu options visible all the time rather than being hidden in javascript menus at the top.

I think I'm going to take [info]mrs_redboots advice and just add an app to my browser.

Nothing has changed in my LJ. I would ask: did you establish a "style", or did you do something else to format your page? I get my style (gray bar at top and left side) even when I am viewing your home page.

LJ is opaque to me, I have no idea what I did to get where I am. I fooled around for a couple of hours one day to get what I liked; I am sure you don't have that kind of time to spend, however.

No. I picked a plain style in the first place and I haven't touched anything on the style end since. However, LJ regularly puts seasonal "decorations" on the top bar of my home page, which I hate.

This change occurred overnight and I had nothing to do with it.

My LJ has changed in the same way as yours. The front page does change now and then, it seems. Probably someone likes to re-decorate it.

mrs_redboots app sounds like a good idea. I don't see any difference in the homepage, but I don't go there enough to really pay attention. I generally just look at my page, my friends page, and post with semagic - which is awesome and I highly recommend for ease of use. It manages to bypass all the weird code that LJ tends to throw into posts for reasons that boggle the mind.