Support forum changes
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I’m sorry to say that the redoing of the support docs main page here in Tumblr style is not helpful to me at all.
http://en.support.wordpress.com/The main support page used to have links on the page that I could click or that I could hover over and copy link location in a thrice.
The headings now provided are not useful to me at all because they mean more clicking and more clicking and more clicking and time wasted searching for what I used to have a link to immediately. So fewer blogger’s threads being answered on the support forums because that page is now useless to me save for the searchbox.
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I am so annoyed that I have to wade through molasses on the support site just to get links I used to be able to access in a thrice. Yes, register me as not happy at all.
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Hi timethief,
A team of Happiness Engineers worked on the redesign, with the goal being to provide more direct assistance to new WordPress.com users who reach our support page, and help them quickly find the information that they most need. The new page (and sub-pages) also makes it much easier to contact support, as we make the button very prominent throughout.
This was all done in tandem with refreshed design elements that create a cleaner look more in line with the design elsewhere on WordPress.com.
If you have suggestions on how we can further improve this new support landing page for our users, particularly those new to WordPress.com, please feel free to let us know.
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Sadly there is no cached copy of the old main support page as it existed before the change that I could locate in Google’s cache. But the good news is that I did locate a cached copy of a page with the links I used lots every day. I also have a blog full of copy and paste answers with links I need so I’ll simply workaround this.
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My first thoughts are mixed, the old page was very busy. The new page is cleaner, Post vs/ Page & .ORG vs/ .COM are on the first page.
The create a post link tells people to use the quick post function, the feedback in the forum is that has some bugs in it and posts are lost from time to time. Have you fixed the quick post bugs?
The issue is getting someone to read the page, I have posted links with notes that the instructions are in the link and had to repeat again and again in the same thread to get some slow person to actually read the link for the instructions
The tree is a bit shallow – yes the contact button is more prominent – one issue with that is that people show up in the forum saying that they ask for help 4 days ago and have not yet gotten help, so you will need to fix the turnaround time on the contact button.
Like @TT I also have a blog with links and some text for the problems that I normally help with, (as does the staff I have noticed) –
we shall see I guess
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PS – nice that a few happiness engineers went into the back room to work on the redesign, but you don’t seem to ask for feedback on changes until after the fact when one of us shows up flaming on some poor part of the design – yes getting feedback sucks, someone else might have a better idea and it does slow some things down
I used to do software design, I very seldom designed anything without getting feedback from the end user. sometimes swapping two buttons on a screen was the difference between crashing the machine and things running well (the buttons & functions needed to be “intuitive” as they were moving several thousand pounds of material around and sending it the wrong way was way way bad
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I saw it yesterday morning my time while I was logged out, blinked, and then went about my day. After logging in, it was still there.
Honestly all I have to say is that there are only two items on that Support front page I use regularly and that is the link to COM vs ORG and the search box. Both are still available.
Everything else I need, I have in Evernote.
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Going a little further, the Support front page redesign is, indeed, much cleaner than the old, but doesn’t cover as many topics.
The Popular Topics just below the main topics seem to replace what has been removed as a main topic, but I would think a link to managing one’s profile and adding media should be there as well (maybe instead of social media since that is covered under “connect”).
And while each of the topics now sends you to a redesigned secondary page that includes apparently a lot of the same text as the old second secondary page, not only is it longer visually to read, I’m missing the “Related Posts” and the Index of topics in the sidebar. To me, those features were really useful and quicker to use.
As Forrest Gump says, “And that’s all I have to say about that.”
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Hi to all!
I agree with Justjennifer, mostly about Related Posts and the Index of topics in the sidebar. Please keep them alive ^^
However, I found an url that still seems “normal”
http://en.support.wordpress.com/introduction/
Hope we, translators, will still and forever be able to use That one, at least!
Otherwise I fear it becomes simply impossible finding our vital related content.
I guess this is not a designer’s priority… Shit happens. Yes :( -
Hi all,
Can you please provide some examples of links that are no longer working for you? The actual support doc links shouldn’t be any different, and if there are any broken links, we should set up redirects to the relevant page.
The majority of our users tend to access individual support docs through a direct link (either a Google result or a link provided by staff or in the forums). Not too many people seemed to be using the support home page as a general resource when getting started; we’re hoping this simpler layout will be more helpful in that way.
We’re going to keep trying some different things with support documentation – both in the structure of individual docs and in overall organization. Since you guys spend a lot of time referring people to the documentation, I’m really interested in your specific feedback on it and any ideas for improvement.
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In my opinion, as long as the above (or similar) link won’t undergo any changes, no problem , as it leads rather quickly to all features.
By the way, I think many people don’t search by themself, they rather ask here, where volunteers need a quick access to the documentation, new content and updates. -
People don’t search – lost count of how many ask in the forum about the “More” thing they see on other blogs, no effort to search anything. for a while I would put the search term and time I used – did no good – others will ask a question that has been ask and answered 4 threads below in the forum
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As one of the team members directly involved in project that you see now as the homepage to en.support.wordpress.com and the related secondary pages, I though it would be a good idea to chime in and address a few points raised here.
First, some background. We approached this update of the home page with a few specific goals in mind:
- Provide a better experience for new users to WordPress.com, who were not well served by the previous design
- Reduce the clutter and information overload that had started to dominate overall design
- Increase the prominence of search, currently the bulk of traffic on the site
- Make contacting support more obvious than it was on the previous design
- A few other smaller things, like updating the visual design and adding responsive styling (in progress)
Adding to that, we worked hard to make data-informed decisions on this redesign wherever possible, which was a challenge to a lot of assumptions we had as well. And in looking at some of the feedback here, it sounds like we have been able to meet some of the goals above. Others will take time and iteration to better understand their effectiveness.
So, with that in mind, a few things I wanted to respond to specifically:
I’m sorry to say that the redoing of the support docs main page here in Tumblr style is not helpful to me at all.
@timethief – I can understand that, and your response hints at the fact that the old support home was a useful tool for you, say nothing for it’s effectiveness with users.
With that in mind, what about the old support page was most helpful as a resource for mods? Perhaps that is something we can look at implementing as well.
And while each of the topics now sends you to a redesigned secondary page that includes apparently a lot of the same text as the old second secondary page
@justjennifer – We have been rolling things out in stages, and those four main sections on the new homepage each lead to updated pages like this one, so those are improved now: http://en.support.wordpress.com/customize/
People don’t search – lost count of how many ask in the forum about the “More” thing they see on other blogs, no effort to search anything.
@auxclass – It is true that not everyone will make the effort on their own, and that will be true regardless of what we do to improve the static resources found within support. That said, we still feel that improving support documentation is a worthwhile endeavor.
Think of it this way: The percentage of people that open a forum thread for their issue is just the tip of the iceberg; there are countless others who search for their issue, then quietly leave, without us knowing if what we provided was effective or not.
The improvements we are trying to make here (especially with regard to emphasizing search) are meant to address that larger issue.
Anyone else have any thoughts here, either about how we can improve the existing support site for our users, or provide you with better tools to help those that remain? We are looking at other improvements as well, and would appreciate your feedback.
Thanks!
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As I said above, my needs are served as long as the search box and related posts remain. I’d love a full index (with snippets) of the Support site but realize that may be wishful thinking.
Looking at the newly redesigned secondary pages, I have to ask – as a completely new user, are my needs being met? I think in many ways the support doc that lilmaouz linked to above answers new user questions better.
Then there’s the matter that each secondary page is now a standalone page with no link back to where I started (OMG-we have to use our “back” button to get there).
And in all 4 pages of information, not one word about how to actually get into one’s Dashboard and start writing.
Adding to that, we worked hard to make data-informed decisions on this redesign wherever possible, which was a challenge to a lot of assumptions we had as well.
Can you give us a concrete example?
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I’d love a full index (with snippets) of the Support site but realize that may be wishful thinking.
That actually may not be wishful thinking, and is one of the reasons I wanted to jump into the conversation. Many Happiness Engineers I have spoke with also agree that something like this would be helpful, even for us.
A few things come to mind as challenges in creating an index like that though. Primarily how to effectively list over 400 support pages, and still have it be useful as a tool.
What should be included in an index like that? What should we exclude? Anything else that would make something like this even more useful?
Regarding your feedback on the secondary pages, that is very useful. None of those pages are set in stone, but are things we want to iterate on and make as useful as possible, so feedback is appreciated. Thanks!
Can you give us a concrete example?
While I can’t reveal specifics, the two big data points that guided us was the high bounce rate of the old home page (so it was not an effective entry point to support for most users) and the volume of traffic that came from search, both internal and external to the site, which suggested the need to improve that feature.
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Can you PLEASE do something about all the WP.org people posting in the forum? It’s taking up way too much time to respond to them when Support Bot did a fine job.
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