Did you notice that the How-To tab is missing? The Discussions tab is gone, too. So is the News & Views tab.
What gives? In order to simplify things around here and make the site easier to use, we took three tabs and made them two: Learning Center and Community.
The changes are small, but we hope they will have a large impact. Read the article
Notice Something Different About TechSoup? to find out about the other changes.
Let us know what you think by leaving feedback here.
I really like the learning center, but I don't care for the new Community page. It is hard to follow things in the forum just by seeing the titles of the sections. Instead of having that, could that be the community "landing" page and then have an option of going to the forums like the were before (aka pointing to http://www.techsoup.org/fb)
Other than that, Great job!
~Michael
For more information on why we made the changes that we did (ease of use for the users), please check out
this post
Let us know what you think,
Susan
Joined on 06-09-2003
Davenport, Iowa USA
Thanks Michael for the /fb link.
The community landing page is a cleaner introduction to the community discussions, but for users like me I like the summary the old page gives as I can scan the last topics and see the date time stamp to find out if there is any thing new in the forums since my last pass through.
Dave
I agree with Dave that the new Community landing page -- as well as the Learning Center -- boasts a cleaner, less cluttered appearance, which, at least to me, is a big step toward increased ease of use.
No Problem Dave...that sums up exactly what I wanted to say.
Joined on 03-21-2001
Los Angeles
Like Brian, I too agree with Dave, but with the OTHER part of what Dave said, "I like the summary the old page gives as I can scan the last topics and see the date time stamp to find out if there is any thing new in the forums since my last pass through."
A better improvement to the interface would be to put the "next page" tag at the top as well as at the bottom of items that spill over to additional pages. And maybe it could have the >| symbol from VCR/MP3/(etc) players, to go right to the end?
I somehow find myself subscribed to an item, only today, that I did not intend to subscribe to. I've never had this happen before. An it was an item that had a lot of replies, all on page 3, so that I had to go to the bottom of page 1, then to page 3, then to the bottom of page 3, before I could see the new replies. I wonder if this accidental subscription is an artifact of the new interface? And, tho' it is easy to subscribe to a thread with a checkbox, I don't see any checkbox to unsubscribe (which I'd like to do)!
Yep - worth repeating
Like Brian, I too agree with Dave, but with the OTHER part of what Dave said, "I like the summary the old page gives as I can scan the last topics and see the date time stamp to find out if there is any thing new in the forums since my last pass through."
In this respect I think we have lost some functionality and made the forums tougher for our clients/guests to use... although other changes look good.
Don
PS - and because I think it really needs to be said...
I don't think promoting the third-party Linden Labs "Second Life Game" higher on the page than TechSoup's own forums is conclusive to supporting our users... Plus we seem to have lost helpful aspects like the number of posts demonstrating activity in each of the forums on the frontpage.
With respect, I believe our highest priority is to support legitimate requests for technical support and assistance from NPO's - maybe we can prioritise computer games elsewhere...
Don
Atthough Second Life is not technically a game, Don, and there are many benefits that Nonprofits can derive from it, I hear your concerns. For the record, we will be highlighting a new Hot Topic every week in the top section of the community page. Also, with regard to the functionality that is lost, what items do you think are tougher for the users?
Jesse, I am unclear about how you would have gotten accidentally subscribed to a topic, but you can unsubscribe to your subscriptions via the edit my profile link. Scroll to the bottom, and you should be able to see all your subscriptions. When you are there, you should be able to remove all subscriptions. Please feel free to email me, if you are not able to unsubscribe yourself.
HTH,
Susan
By the way, we should note that your suggestions aren't going unnoticed. We're going to look into a way to make the link to the standard forums launch page more obvious so people can still access the page if they want to.
In the meantime, as Michael noted, you can still go there directly via this URL:
http://www.techsoup.org/fb
Sorry we took that away from you -- I can't speak for the others here, but I'll admit that I, personally, overlooked just how valuable that page is to advanced users. (Our goal in redesigning the Community page was to try to simplify things for the accidental techies who wanted to get into the forums as quickly as possible.)
Thanks for the feedback, everyone -- keep it up!
--Amit
Joined on 06-09-2003
Davenport, Iowa USA
Thanks
Another way that I use the summary page is to skim the last subject line in the forums that I don't normally visit. If something catches my attention, I'll drop in to take a look.
TS does a good job of using an active forum topic to highlight on the home page and I'll use that entrance too.
Dave
Hi Amit,
I guess the obvious question to ask is... What percentage of our guests (accidental techs) complained about the old page? - I don't remember ever seeing a single complaint on the forums about difficulties entering the forums; to the contrary, the posts I do recall were all complimentary about the way our forums worked.
Maybe we need to be careful about change just for the sake of change when such comes at the expense of access and usefulness?
It might be coincidental, but has anyone noticed how markedly the number of posts to the software forum have dropped since the frontpage was changed and the link to enter the forum relegated to near the bottom of the page...?
Hi Susan,
I spent a week perusing the world's of second life before abandoning my avatar to the virtual winds. It is a game with most participants being very experienced computer gamers (I had a chat with more than a few). Like a lot of 'net enabled games it does have some potential for education and interaction, but it's a game nonetheless.
I think that experimenting with games like this for NPO interaction is interesting and could have value... it just concerned me to see it rate higher on our welcome page than our "bread-and-butter" support forums - but I certainly accept that others may have a different view.
Cheers, Don
Joined on 03-21-2001
Los Angeles
I'm glad to find the http://www.techsoup.org/fb/ page, but once in a forum, clicking the link for "Community DIscussions" [ "Home > Community Discussions>" at the top of the page] takes me back to the same awful new interface. This is NOT a satisfactory solution.
I find that the new setup poisons my interest in the forums, since it is too much work (and takes too much time) to look at each one to see if there's something new or interesting happening. I have very strong feelings about this, so I'm writing again to impress this on the staff. If this new format is not eliminated, then the better page should be restored as the default for "Community;" and if not that, it should be given equal prominence; would a separate tab (maybe "Better Community") look too strange?
And I agree with Don that the SL frenzy should not get such prominence and promotion from Techsoup. Some people may find it fun, and they're welcome to their fun, but for many it is an artificial layer of complexity that offers little reward and exacts an unwanted toll. Things like SL should not become central to the Techsoup community, imposing a procedural 'fun tax' on NPOs who would rather not do it that way.