40 replies to this topic

[gbarry]

We have a few big changes coming down the pike that we'd like to highlight for our user base, that will help make the forum more navigable and less jarring for first time users and guests, which form the majority of our traffic. Since this time around we have the luxury of phasing in the changes, we're going to be adding these updates incrementally across the next week (the reorganization changes at least), to give our members a chance to get used to them. We're lumping all of this is into a general initiative imaginatively dubbed "Discussion 2.0", with the primary objective to build out additional features on the community in a big, multi-month push.

We spent the last quarter evaluating different layouts, and this has been the best solution. I definitely expect there to be adjustments, once the community has had a chance to get settled with the new layout. Look over things, and as always, respond with questions and concerns below.

New Forum Layout
We've been wrestling with a problem for a while on the forum--discussion fragmentation. At present, there are 60+ forum areas for users to choose from, with plenty more lined up for the future. In terms of Lifestyle topics, we were finding a nearly limitless set of options that made future expansion difficult. From a product perspective, Evernote's focus on working on nearly every conceivable platform made it tough to move away from something siloed--an Android discussion is going to be inherently different from an IOS discussion, from a Blackberry discussion, etc. Platform discussions inherently vary--bugs will be different, features will be different, look and feel will be different because everything is optimized for the specific device. So we couldn't dump the structure entirely, even though 60+ areas is untenable from any sane person's perspective.

The answer to these troubles is tags, which we've managed to reformulate using a helpful hook here and there, and turn into something slightly more helpful and flexible for browsing. With tags, we're attempting to tackle a few basic problems, which are:
One: Content discovery. So many spaces were limiting the ability for users to find new content.
Two: Newer members should be able to quickly drop into a new area and start a new topic. No more drilling down through multiple levels to get to a topic area, you just select your platform directly from the new topic screen, or from the new Start New Topic button.
Three: New content areas are definitely on the way, and the current structure was limiting our ability to add them without growing the sprawl. Now we can add new content areas without impacting discoverability.

From now on users, when creating a new topic, will select a "Prefix" tag associated with their new topic. Available Prefixes change depending on the forum area you are starting a new topic in. Forum threads can be filtered by these prefixes. You can still tag the post normally, to create even more connections for your content.

Tradeoffs of the new design
This isn't really normal procedure, but I'm going to immediately call out the tradeoffs implicit in our new design. The largest tradeoff you'll find is the inability to follow specific forums--you can still follow entire product areas, and you can still follow individual threads, but "Evernote Android" (for example) can no longer be followed. Indeed, we found that individual threads were the most followed, with almost no users (save actual Evernote employees and a few power forum users) following entire forums. It should be noted that areas that do not rely on the new tag infrastructure (like beta testing, general discussion, developer and off topic) are still followable.

Another slightly odd feature is that categories (basically tags that appear in front of your topic when browsing) work differently depending on where you access them in the forum. When clicking from the index, they only open topic tags within that forum. In other words, if you click the Android category under Evernote, you'll only see Evernote related, Android tagged content. If you click that Android tag again (while within search results) you will be taken to a search results page containing all items tagged with Android (like Food, Hello, etc) not just Evernote. It actually adds to discoverability, but there could be a bit of confusion around this.

Pinning also becomes slightly more limited--rather than having 60+ forums for that many pinned topics, we'll be limited to pinned topics in the new product areas. The Wiki, once released, will alleviate this issue, since most pinned topics are about product versions, known bugs, workarounds and user documentation. In the mean time, we'll work to combine useful pinned topics so that there's less pinning happening up top.

New, Moved, and Rebranded Spaces
With the new structure comes some movement. General Discussions, Off Topic discussion, and Announcements have been moved to the top of the page. We've added a new subsection under General, called "Forum Feedback" so users can give us feedback without taking up space in the Off-Topic area. The Off Topic area has been renamed to something a little more cheeky, "EN the Lounge". You can thank our interns for that.

Products gets the big tag revamp. We're throwing out areas like "mobile" and grouping everything by Product area, with tags used to delineate platform. So Evernote will have a Mac, Windows, Windows Phone, Blackberry, Android, etc, and Food will have Android and IOS, etc etc (and more etcs, but not ETC). For our beta testers, we've created a hidden beta tester area that holds all of the beta forums. This way users who are involved with multiple betas will be able to go directly to one spot, rather than having to search through the thicket of product areas.

Learn & Share remains at the bottom, with Lifestyle and Education all getting the tag treatment. Users in Education should really enjoy this new layout, as it makes browsing education discussions, which tend to bleed between categories, a whole lot easier. Lifestyles works the same way, and our Ambassadors, who used to be tied to a single forum, will now have mod powers over the entire Lifestyle section. The Developer's section stays the same, though we have our own strategies for engaging our unique developer community on the way. We'll phase out the KB section (ahead of our Wiki development), and keep Localization.

As with most things, the easiest way to show you is with a Skitch.

Start a new topic anywhere
User testing showed that with the new tag system, users instinctively looked to create a new topic while browsing search results. Since search results didn't have a start new topic button, we've added a hook that enables users to start a new topic from anywhere in the system. The upshot is, well, you can now add a new topic from anywhere in the system.

The Wiki
The interns have been dutifully working on researching wikis, designing layouts, and testing options in preparation for a forum-tied Wiki. Our primary goals here are to give our members a chance to build their own knowledge base, update articles, and provide for seamless transitioning of knowledge generated through discussion to the more rarefied air of a Wiki. Expect other stuff like 3rd party profiles, and even a shared public notebook library. As with anything Evernote related, we won't give ETAs, but suffice to say that once some technical difficulties are overcome, we'll be happy to introduce this space to the broader community. It'll be pretty basic at first, but hey, that's where you come in, right?

More to Come
Finally, we have some other things in the works that will be coming as part of this new revisioning of our community space. We're aiming to create a document library (styled like an app store, with reviews, and versions, and such) for all of our enterprising users to upload their documentation they've written on or about or tangential to Evernote. It will be like pinning your hard work for all to see. We're also looking at ways to connect real-world meetups with discussions and users from the forum. Personally, I'd like to see a world map that uses Member location info (usually just Country/State/City, we're not looking for anything more granular than that) to enable users to organically create events based on concentrations of users, coupled with a global listing of all active meetups. The goal here would be to create a deeper connection between real world and online discussions around Evernote, and facilitate the growth of both.

Finally, a massive thank you to our Community Interns for theoreticaling, strategimatizing, and implementating many (if not most) of the changes you see above. Add to all of the above more specialized content and more events, and we have quite a bit in store for our users. Let us know how you like these changes, and feel free to respond below. I'll update this thread as we make good on the announcements above.

[Metrodon]

Ooooh I love a change.

[GrumpyMonkey]

The changes look like they will drastically improve the site, and I think the upcoming additions will greatly increase the ability for users to share their experiences and knowledge. Good job GBarry and his minions (I mean interns).

[Wern]

Let's roll this out and see how it goes. Looks like we are up to some "mental gymnastics".

[Owyn]

Looks good in staging. I expect I am going to have to play with notifications / view new content a bit. I am one of those people who follow some forums to get quick notification of help/problem reports. Might be able to workaround with GMail filters but need to see some notifications from new forum to be sure.

[spg SCOTT]

Would love to hear about any improvements to the attachments system in the forums.

Not sure if I have posted about them or not, but I find that there can be some issues...

- Attached images:
- - Sometimes I have to try and open them twice, before they will display
- - Sometimes they don't show at all. Just the placeholder overlay with the spinning circle.

- Other attachments
- - Clicking on them causes a forum error - Though the only post that I can recall with that issue doesn't seem to show it anymore...so this may have been sorted somewhat already.
- - Clicking on the icon next to it, allows downloads.

[JMichael]

Would love to hear about any improvements to the attachments system in the forums.

Not sure if I have posted about them or not, but I find that there can be some issues...

Yep, I agree.

Because of these issues and how attachments are displayed, I switched long ago to saving my images to a public DropBox folder and using the forum image URL tag.

[Owyn]

Ditto on problems as reported by Scott when attempting to view thumbnails. In fact, I have stopped using them in my own posts. Using primarily shared notes instead.

[GrumpyMonkey]

Ditto on problems as reported by Scott when attempting to view thumbnails. In fact, I have stopped using them in my own posts. Using primarily shared notes instead.

Me too.

[gbarry]

- Attached images:
- - Sometimes I have to try and open them twice, before they will display
- - Sometimes they don't show at all. Just the placeholder overlay with the spinning circle.

This, at least, is a known bug that they're working on. Attachments have never been a strong suit, that's for sure. I'd like to see an improvement come down the pipeline, but we're pushing for some others first. I'd stick with note links too, though you don't get the handy preview with them.

[Owyn]

Noticed the first set of changes is in place. No problems observed following old and new notifications to the forum. Did not even notice change was in place until I went to the main forum list.

[spg SCOTT]

See the "Start New Topic" button

This, at least, is a known bug that they're working on. Attachments have never been a strong suit, that's for sure. I'd like to see an improvement come down the pipeline, but we're pushing for some others first. I'd stick with note links too, though you don't get the handy preview with them.

Yes, I use EN for images...other forum members don't though, especially new users.

A workaround for when trying to view an image that wont show for now is to get the link from the source code of the page and paste it into a new tab.

This suggests to me that the issue is in the method used to display the image in the popover with the grey backgound, since the image can be accessed.

For those looking for them, attachment links look like this:

http://discussion.evernote.com/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_rel_module=post&attach_id=<number>

[Owyn]

Just tested this workaround in Chrome 21.
Right Click Thumbnail -> Open link in new tab

Basically same as copy & paste url but a bit faster.

[spg SCOTT]

In firefox, right clicking causes the popover image loading for me. But good to see that there is a better workaround for Chrome at least.

[mrossk]

Where is the difference between the following sub-forums:

1. Start New Topic --> Evernote Products --> Evernote for the Web --> Evernote for Android
and
2. Start New Topic --> Evernote Products --> Evernote [chinese chars] --> Evernote for Android [chinese chars]

Is 1. ment for browsing Evernote with a browser on an android phone (because of the word "Web") and 2. for the native android client?

[Owyn]

Ummm. Looks like "Evernote Mobile" section marker is missing.

[heather]

Where is the difference between the following sub-forums:

1. Start New Topic --> Evernote Products --> Evernote for the Web --> Evernote for Android
and
2. Start New Topic --> Evernote Products --> Evernote [chinese chars] --> Evernote for Android [chinese chars]

Is 1. ment for browsing Evernote with a browser on an android phone (because of the word "Web") and 2. for the native android client?

The Evernote Japanese sections are for Japanese language posts - They've been there all along. You are more than welcome to post there - our moderators will move English language posts to the proper section, and leave the Japanese language ones where they are

[gbarry]

I see we've noticed that Start New Topic is live, as of last night. Would've posted, but the rover got in the way. I'm going to be using that excuse all day (but seriously, it's true!)

That "Start New Topic" menu is going to change A LOT over the next few days. We opted to load that up first b/c it was necessary to have that up and running first as we phased in the rest of the changes. We're going to be changing over some additional areas this evening, namely Education and Lifestyles, and shifting around some of the other forums. Products area wont change until Wednesday night.

Users will then have a chance to play around with the new layout in Education and Lifestyles, which will hopefully make for a less jarring experience when we move over Products.

[Blake Burch]

Education and Lifestyles have been transformed. Go check 'em out!

[Owyn]

Hmmm. How do I quickly read just unread posts for a Category?

e.g. I am currently browsing Evernote for Windows. Clicking "Next Unread Topic" lets me quickly review all new posts, for that specific product.

Edited by Owyn, 07 August 2012 - 11:40 AM.