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willow) wrote in ![[site community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/comm_staff.png){kind=small}
dw_suggestions2009-08-22 02:24 am
Better Site Scheme Menu Organization
Title:
Better Site Scheme Menu Organization
Area:
Site Scheme Menu
Summary:
I would like the menu better organized with easy to find links, for Suggestions, Account Info and News.
Description:
I think there should be:
A link for DW's News Pages underneath the site scheme's 'EXPLORE' so that News is easy to find.
A link for DW's Suggestion Generator ALSO underneath the site scheme's 'EXPLORE' so that being able to make suggestions is easy to do.
The CREATE link in the site scheme's drop menus changed to ACCOUNT (or something similar) so that it is better understood that there are links there for profile editing and icon adding and not just creating an entry (and to make it clearer that it does not mean creating a new account (excluding creating a comm)
PS: I'm sure someone's already mentioned that 'Sponsor A User' would be clearer as 'Random Gifts' - since right now it comes across somewhat politically as if someone can sponsor an official community journal like a national, international, or regional organization like the SPCA or similar program relying on donations for hosting.
This suggestion:
Should be implemented as-is.
4 (14.3%)
Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
5 (17.9%)
Shouldn't be implemented.
13 (46.4%)
(I have no opinion)
4 (14.3%)
(Other: please comment)
2 (7.1%)
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I agree that the name Create isn't ideal, but Account doesn't sound right, either.
Changing Sponsor a User to Random Gifts would be good.
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As for Account, my note mentioned something similar would more than work. Account comes closest to what I think the menu function relates to, but another name that does the same would work.
I'm not sure how a custom menu would work. Would it be part of a new site scheme style to be chosen with individuals inputting urls like in the journal style link list?
I can see that for more specific things for users - specific tags, specific communities with specific tags, etc. But for the general, basic, main line user-scheme it makes sense to me that there be some basic places people can reach using that menu. Isn't that the function of the menu in the first place?
It might be that I'm using FF2 and thus for some clicking on the DW banner works to take them to home and they find news and info on news that way. But I don't think it's user friendly when people have to hunt to find the suggestion box (I used a search engine because I couldn't reemember the name of the comm) and it's definitely not user friendly to me, to not easily find news on the product.
What's the point of DW putting out weekly status reports if people (whether they're logged in or not) can't find it? What about newbies? They're not going to be getting news in their inbox (email or pm version here).
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The news community has a module on the logged-in homepage, which is the page you are being redirected to via http://www.dreamwidth.org/ or http://www.dreamwidth.org/login.bml , and every new account is automatically subscribed to it and gets email and PM notifications unless they choose not to, as far as I am aware.
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Better term perhaps 'Possible Newbies? Prospective DWers?'
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And for Create, I would rather split those links into different menus, because the mix doesn't make sense to my brain - naming it something that basically means "Miscellaneous" doesn't solve the problem of it being a bit of a mixed collection.
This is the suggestion that talks about a custom menu - it would be a new menu, called "Custom Menu" or similar, that would show up in both Tropospherical and Celerity, and contain links the user chose much like the links list.
The problem is that people disagree on what are basic places - the Site Map lists a lot more than the menu, most of which some people use very frequently and others use very rarely. Putting all of those into the menu leaves it confusing for new users.
The banner does take me to home in FF3.
There is also already a bug to add the suggestion box to the site map and site footer, which will make it easier to find.
Can you suggest how we'd make the news comm easier to find? I currently find I have too many notifications of it.
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Sure, it's semantics, but that's why I'd be much more likely to click on 'sponsor a user' over 'random gifts', because I'd be under the (perhaps mistaken) notion that I'd be seeing suggestions of users who've been recommended somehow as particularly beneficial to the overall community and therefore especially deserving of patronage.
I'm not sure how "sponsor a user" gets interpreted as sponsoring an organization -- because for that, I'd expect, well, "sponsor an org" or possibly "sponsor a community" (related to the org, generally).
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I'm not sure how "sponsor a user" gets interpreted as sponsoring an organization
Because an organization can be a user of the site. And the term sponsor has a lot of weight and implications. 'Sponsor a child/ sponsor a sports team / sponsor a charity'.
Personally I don't understand how Random Gifts, equals users who've been put forward as deserving. But such differences strongly hint that more neutral terms need to be utilized so that people are not confused or turned off.
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Yowser, kinda late, so I hope that clarifies better.
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That's the only thing I can think of that would ease the 'Sniff sniff, what has this random person done that I should take out my wallet' scenario that you've implied can go on in the back of a person's mind.
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In which case, that reduces (if not removes) the sniff-sniff reaction, because it has the connotation that you're doing something to be proud of, that should make you feel good, too, by labeling your action a kindness -- instead of it being something given (away) and for which someone else benefits.
Yep, it's semantics, but semantics are the meat of any good navigation design. Moreso when you're trying to mix in a bit of selling there, along with the navigating!
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That's separate from this suggestion though, so I'll stop there.
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To my knowledge, no-one has. Could we please have a separate suggestion for this? It's kind of hard voting for two different things in two different ways in one poll ;)
My vote is in regards to the menu organization.
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[And I thought of it in 30 seconds while implementing, so, um not the best thought-out phrasing in the world - it just sounded good and was short enough]
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I will say that the current setup is much more intuitive than LJ's is. On LJ I have to use Vertigo so that I can see all the links at one go; here I can mange fine with Tropo.
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Adding news: dw_news is already on the homepage.
Adding suggestions: there's already been a similar suggestion about this (http://dw-suggestions.dreamwidth.org/61635.html). It's not a link I use often enough to put it in the top menus. I'd like to have it in the footer instead.
Renaming create: no, thanks. I think the current name fits and "account" is too similar to the existing "account settings". Also, all menu names are verbs and I like it.
Renaming Sponsor a User: I think "Random Gifts" is not meaningful enough. "Sponsor a User" tells me clearly what I can do by clicking on the link. "Random Gifts" wouldn't.
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Even so, there's a link to news on the Dreamwidth home page (even when logged out), so I'm not sure this is needed.
*looks at logged-out homepage* Hmmm. Maybe for logged-out users, having 'Read' appear containing news, about Dreamwidth, and guiding principles? That way, if they've gone on to another page (or come in via another page), a non-logged-in user can find these from any site-schemed page. Still not sure if that's a good idea or not, though.
[edited for icon]
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