Make the navigation simpler

 

We knew that people had a hard time finding information on the site because sometimes WE had a hard time finding information on the site. We talked with our MVPs and looked at where people were spending the most time at on our site. The number one destinations on our site were the forums, the tech tip articles, and the wiki in general. It was pretty easy to get to the forum you wanted to get to, just a couple of clicks. But sometimes you had to hunt for a link to the Wiki and it wasn’t always easy to find tech tips on specific topics.

 

The whole team met up in Seattle to discuss the new site organization. We decided to go with a two-tier navigation at the top. We also decided what would be on each level. We knew we wanted to have a section where we could put the latest news and collections of links to various other parts of the site about topics that were hot. We put a lot of thought and effort into what would be on the menu when you first arrive at the site. We knew we wanted the tech tips, forums, and blogs on there as well as a link to the wiki. We came up with the idea of a “Getting started” section to help out people who were new to DevCentral.

 

 

We also knew that we wanted a place to put useful links, to your profile, your groups and other useful places. We put this at the bottom of every page.  Over the course of time, you should look for some changes in this bar. We may swap in new quicklinks based on demand. We might also put special notifications in this bar. We’ve got lots of plans.

 

 

We also changed the search so that you didn’t have to leave the page you were on to see your search results. There are some issues with the search results that Jason addresses in this post.

By creating topic groups, we’ve made it easier for you to find new and old information about things that interest you. More about groups later.

 

What do you think about the changes we’ve made to navigation?