I've been using the social site for the past five or so weeks and I think I've been pretty active but would you believe today was the first time ever I actually clicked on the What's New button?
In fact it was probably the first time I clicked on any of those buttons because I had assumed that, with the exception of Logout, they were parent nodes and had no functionality of their own. I'm not sure why I made this assumption because the Home button in the main toolbar works that way and I've been clicking on it since Day 1!
Anyway it turns outs that all of those "parent" buttons, with exception of My Content, do something. Some are duplicated in the by their children (Messages & Message Inbox; Friends & View My Friends; Settings & View Setting) but others are not.
This brings me on to the main purpose of this post ...
The more I use the site the more I become aware that is usually three ways to do almost, but not quite, the same thing or view almost, but not quite, the same content. Three ways to do the same thing would be bound to allow everyone to intuitively navigate around the site. But three ways to do almost the same thing is a one-way ticket to Frustrationville!
Example 1: What's New vs. My Network vs. Home
The What's New button is symptomatic of this problem. The newly discovered page it took me to has the standard news feeds plus the following features:
- Preferences
- Profile Stats
- My Status (duplicated)
- Recent News
- People Online
- Friend's Birthdays
- Group Subscriptions
Ironically the "Preferences" link was something that is in the consolidated bug list I was working on over the weekend (and have yet to post).
That said the page is almost, but not quite, the same as the pages that can be reached from the My Network and Home/BioWare Community buttons.
My Network button takes me to a page with the standard news feeds (although I suspect it would filter out some general content) plus the following features:
- Newest Members
- Recent Status Updates (collated)
Home/BioWare Community button takes me to a page with the standard news feeds plus the following features:
- Welcome Message
- Recent News
- Recent Forum Posts (collated)
- Featured Projects
As you can see if I want to see my Friends Birthdays I need to go to one version of the page; to see the Newest Members to another and the Featured Projects yet another. In the process I'm probably seeing different views of the various feeds.
I understand the idea between the different themes: BioWare Community, DA Player Community and DA Builder Community however shouldn't the What's New, My Network, Home buttons all point to the same page rendered with the appropriate theme? Right now we have three pages rendered with three themes that could result in nine different permutations!
Example 2: Profile Projects Tab vs. My Projects vs. Browse Projects
Again we find we have three (or possibly four) different ways to do almost, but not quite the same thing, which again is confusing and/or frustrating to the user.
Viewing the Projects tab on my Profile allows me to view projects I have created but not those I subscribe to. A standard project information object provides links to Download, View, Subscribe/Unsubscribe and Edit a project however I cannot create new projects from this page. If I do edit a project I have to use the browser's history to return to this page as the Edit Project page only offers a Back to My Projects button.
The My Projects page provides the same view as my Profile but also allows me to view My Subscriptions and to Create Projects. The standard project information object provides the same functionality as before.
The My Project Subscriptions page provides essentially the same view as my Profile, i.e. it uses the standard project information object and I cannot create new projects. It only displays projects I have created if I have also subscribed to them (something which should be automatic).
The Browse Projects page allows me to view My Projects, My Friends Projects and Everyone's Projects but not those I subscribe to. It uses the standard project information box however I cannot create new projects from this page. This page also contains a Featured Projects information box (as seen on one of the variations of What's New page).
Can the functionality or rather the availability to the functionality be made consistent? Could it be as simple as making them all be different views of the same page?
Example 3: Profile Groups Tab vs. My Groups vs. Browse Groups
This is the same as the above except that it's exacerbated because there is no Groups tab on my Profile. Instead groups are demoted to one the summary information boxes under my profile picture. Also unlike the My Projects page, the My Groups page does not provide a My Subscriptions link so there is currently no way to view these.
It's also exacerbated because, again unlike the project pages which all used the same underlying information object to display a project's summary details, these pages use three different methods for displaying the information. The Profile page uses basic comma separated links; the My Groups page uses an object that resembles a chunky version of the project information object; while the uses a lightweight information object with none of the action buttons.
Can we have a Groups tab on the Profile page and a standard group information object?
Conclusion
Please, please, please rationalise and refractor all pages and objects. Consistency is key as it will surely enhance the user experience and reduce the maintenance for BioWare. Win-win!
Modifié par Sunjammer, 17 août 2009 - 10:32 .
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