CHICAGO — Imagine coming home from work to find your house in a different color, the rooms switched around and the furniture rearranged.

That's the virtual equivalent Facebook users have faced or will face as the online hangout forces its 90 million members to adapt to a redesigned site, unveiled in late July. Starting last week, Facebook began migrating users' profiles to the new site. And the changes are being met with a mix of protest and resignation.

Facebook's main purpose for redesigning was to declutter, and the makeover is noticeable. Instead of finding a glut of information on a single profile page, personal news and photos are split up into tabbed pages. Also, third-party applications are more hidden.

Still, it's unlikely that the dissatisfaction with the redesign will trigger a mass defection from Facebook to a competing social networking site, such as MySpace or Bebo. Instead, people will get used to the new digs, a now-common phenomenon as people reliant on the Web are at the mercy of designers who change the look and usage of sites as they see fit.

"Like anything, you have to get used to it, so there's always that period where you can't find things," said 28-year-old Mike Kelly of Chicago, who's been playing with the new Facebook since it debuted. "The functionality has actually improved. ... I have heard a couple people complain, but I think that's just growing pains."

The transition, which started Wednesday, will take about a week. Users of Internet Explorer 6 are still unable to access the new site, an issue that Facebook said will be resolved soon.

Since unveiling the redesign, Facebook allowed its users to toggle between the two versions or just stick with the old one. In the last month of testing, thousands of users have joined online groups and signed petitions asking Facebook to either dump the new site or continue giving them a choice between the versions.

Facebook has faced member mutiny before. It backed down last year after users balked at an ad-related feature that shared data about their external activities, such as online shopping.

But social media experts point out that the previous controversy centered on privacy, a weightier issue than the largely cosmetic changes now taking place. Between setting up a new profile on a different site or living with a redesigned Facebook, users likely will opt for the latter.

"I already can't remember what the old Facebook looked like," said Chicagoan Karrie White, 27. "Things change; we get used to them. I'm sure they'll change again too."

Web analytics firm Compete found that users trying the new version were gradually moving toward using only the redesigned site. During the last few weeks of August, roughly 60 percent of Facebook members stayed on the new version rather than click back to the old site.