User blog comment:Rupert Giles/Global Navigation Update/@comment-5275700-20141204194147

To quote an earlier staff response: ''“We ask for your patience as we evaluate the performance and usage of the design update, in addition to feedback from the community. For now, please note that it's not permitted to make any changes to the global navigation via CSS or JS.”''

A few more points to clarify things:
 * We are not closing the door on more changes to appearance, behavior and customization options for the new design.
 * Any such changes will not happen before January, when the testing phase has completed. Testing is going in through the end of the year.
 * No customizations are allowed at this time, since the control group for the tests is the current state, and it needs to remain consistent across the network for the test data to be valid.
 * Making further decisions requires a complete picture — feedback from the community in addition to what we’ll learn about reader behavior during the testing.
 * Further changes to the new design may happen, but we will not be returning to the old design.