Re: Forum navigation - Page 2

Jon Marshall · ‎12-18-2009

Dan / Tim

On the old NetPro site when you were in a sub-forum of a major category eg sub-forum = Lan Switching & Routing, major category = Network Infrastructure, you had the option to navigate to other subforums within the same major category. So from Lan Switching and Routing i could straight to Wan Routing and Switching without having to go back up to the major category.

This functionality is available on the new site but only within the overview tab. Personally speaking i work from the discussions tab and i'm guessing so do most of the regualr contributors. Would it be possible to have the links for sub-forums on the discussions tab so you can move easily between the sub-forums. As most regular contributors have specific areas of expertise i suspect this would be very useful for a lot of us. And could the link take you directly to the discussions tab of the relevant sub-forum rather than the overview tab.

It would be good to hear from others as well to see if they think it would be useful and also if they do indeed mainly use the discussions tab.

Thanks

Jon

marikakis · ‎12-21-2009

Hi Jon,

Maybe I was a bit cruel with the leaderboards. Besides potential boosting of morale of contributors, my opinion is that those make the pages look better from an austhetic standpoint. For those reasons I tried to find a way to keep them there.

As for the seriousness of your requests, you are an exceptionally generous member of the community Jon, and I think all your requests should be seriously considered, even the toughest ones!

Kind Regards,

Maria

Daniel Bruhn · ‎12-22-2009

Hi All,

Figured I'd let this play out a bit before jumping in It is true that widgets at the discussion level are hard coded so adding a HTML box like you see on the "Overview" tab isn't a simple drag and drop of the widget. The leaderboard was a customization we had built in the system. If implemented the two solutions proposed so far are:

1. A Mouse over on the breadcrumbs which displays the sub-communities and links directly to the corresponding discussion pages

2. A HTML widget in the right navigation which displays the sub-communities and links directly to the corresponding discussion pages

I really like option 1 better but this might make it an insiders only feature. It would be very hard for us to identify and train casual users on it's availability and what it does. Also, this probably means we should then have this feature for all the bread crumb levels in order to keep a consistent UE.

The downside to option 2 is it takes up real-estate. If we put it directly below the leader board do you think it would still be valuable?

Any other suggestions for a solution? I will also check with our UE group to see if they have any ideas and will let everyone know what I find out.

Cheers,

Dan

Cheers, Dan

Rob Huffman · ‎12-22-2009

Hey Dan,

Hope all is well

Right below the leader board would work for me I think. As I move around

here more and more it seems fairly natural.

Cheers!

Huff

PS:We'll test the email feature here my friend.

marikakis · ‎12-22-2009

Hi Dan,

I think we should let your UE group play out a bit before jumping in with other suggestions for a solution.

Regarding the disadvantages of option 1: If you actually didn't keep the view consistent (say make the 'Network Infrastructure' link black like the username links associated with pop-ups), it would be easier for users to spot that something different is happening up there compared to the rest of the links. Also, I think this additional navigation feature will mostly benefit regulars with broad expertise that are really slowed down when trying to answer questions all around NetPro. I think those guys will figure the trick themselves, but we could spread the rumour just in case. As far as I am concerned, the History feature is enough for me anyway.

If you ask me, I don't like placement of navigation on the right side of anything (no matter if its on top, bottom or middle). I guess this is a matter of taste. And shouldn't you then put the navigation of the Overview tab on the right side to have a consistent view?

So, it seems I like my pop-up idea better! Anyway, let's see what Jon and the others have to say. Another parameter on the equation might be how fast you could have this navigation feature ready. Some members have been asking for it since day one.

As for any other ideas: At the top right of the site I can see (when logged in) the (New, Account, History, Browse) menus. Maybe you could add some menu with similar size somewhere on the top left of the page (visible even for user Guest). A problem with this might be how to make it 'major category' aware. I think the other existing menus are the same no matter where user is around the site.

Kind Regards,

Maria

Jon Marshall · ‎12-22-2009

Maria / Dan / Rob

Firstly Maria, many thanks for the kind words in your last but one post, means a lot.

As for where to put it i kind of agree with Maria that a consistent interface is quite important so it would be nice if it could be standardised. I also agree with Rob in that if i had to scroll down the page i would be happy to do that.

I'm really not that concerned with the leaderboards being visible without scrolling and i have to scroll to see most if it anyway but i take Maria's point that it can be motivating.

Perhaps Dan if you come back to tell us what is possible and we can go from there. If it's not viable then fine, i'll get used to the extra click but then i'll be hassling you to speed up the site a bit

Jon

Daniel Bruhn · ‎12-22-2009

Hi Jon,

Why do I feel like this is a no-win situation for me Let me see what we can do and I'll get back to you.

Cheers,

Dan

BTW: We are working on the performance. Clearly we can't fix this overnight but I can assure you we are working on it.

Cheers, Dan

marikakis · ‎01-09-2010

Hi Dan,

Jon's idea about the improvement of navigation might have a pleasant side-effect on site performance and bandwidth utilization as well. I mean, I sometimes click on some tab or go back to the homepage just for the purpose of navigation. This probably translates to some useless traffic towards and from your web servers. You also have some caching, but site content changes quickly. I don't know how many users navigate a lot across the sections though.

Kind Regards,

Maria

Daniel Bruhn · ‎03-18-2010

Ask and you shall receive....

https://supportforums.cisco.com/message/3038269#3038269

Thanks for all your feedback on this.

Cheers,

Dan

Cheers, Dan

Leo Laohoo · ‎03-18-2010

KOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!

Daniel Bruhn · ‎03-19-2010

Leo,

Is that a technical term I'm unaware of?

Glad you enjoy the new navigation.

Cheers,

Dan

Cheers, Dan

Leo Laohoo · ‎03-19-2010

dbruhn wrote:

Leo,

Is that a technical term I'm unaware of?

Glad you enjoy the new navigation.

Cheers,

Dan

Sure is. It's up there along with "karamba" and "kawabanga".

marikakis · ‎03-24-2010

Hi Dan,

The navigation is great and matches well with the look and feel of the rest of the site. By the way, I think the site is very beautiful in an elegant and classy kind of way. The cisco corporate website is lagging behind!

Kind Regards,

Maria

Rob Huffman · ‎03-19-2010

Hey Dan/Tim and the whole CSC Team,

I agree with Leo!! This is a great improvement for sure and very Kool

Thanks for your continued hard work and dedication in support of the

CSC. It's very much appreciated from this end!

Cheers!

Huff