The main thing I want to reiterate before we get into specifics is this: providing a help file to explain confusing functionalities is quick patch stuff. Users don't like to read manuals, they want to dive in. Any solution to issues below that involve having them read thru a bunch of text would be, IMO, a design cop-out...there are always more ingenious ways to do fix things.
here are some of the things I thought of:
1. Flat versus threaded (and collapsed) need to be MUCH more clearly signified (plus explained). These icons are not up to the task. Newbie users need a good graphical representation to better convey which is which. Adding the words "flat" and "threaded" (to annotate the icons) won't work--they are tech terms. A redesigned icon, probably a bit larger to fit more detail (I am not any kind of graphic designer, so this isn't something I can help with) would be a start.
2. The icons in general are confusing and unintuitive (thought they're well-drawn and attractive). Muhammed's annotated versions are better, but still not totally intuitive for newbies. Sorry I can't be the one to devise a better way. Cursor pass-overs (see point #4) will help a bit (e.g. explain when/why you'd want to "logout"). There are a LOT of icons that need work...e.g. the "go back" arrow on the "profile" page isn't clear...in W3T, arrows mean different things in different contexts, and that's not good. The reply icon looks like an addressed envelope. This indicates, pretty clearly, emailing the poster of the message. Again, IANAGD (I am not a graphic designer), so I can't make specific suggestions. Muhammad's solution of adding the word "Reply" helps, though. The "edit post" icon is REALLY unintuitive (in fact, I just realized what it is...I'd thought it was new message compose). Revamp the icons and the program can be 30% more newbie-friendly overnight.
3. There's got to be some sort of a map, showing users where they are . Users aren't good at understanding "levels", as webmasters should know; they need to be clearly shown (preferably graphically) where in the hierarchy they are at any point. Of all my suggestions, this one's the largest can of worms. It's delicate and critical. Ideally, it'd allow confident newbie exploration of a site with MANY boards and meta indexes. Maybe there could be an admin option to default to giving all users a little console window with this map. Idunno...just an idea....would provide something ever-present (or at least ever-accessible) showing the whole shebang.
4. While the interface should be designed so that it's intuitive as is, cursor pass-over explanations would provide a boost....though they shouldn't be used to "patch" confusing design. I'm not sure about platform/browser issues with cursor pass-overs....are any of you up on this? Do Netscape and MSIE in reasonably recent vintages enable this function on both PC and MAC platforms?
5. In addition, there should still be more extensive help available, and it shouldn't be in one central FAQ or manual...there should be clearly/concisely written info pertinent to various functions available from links close to the actual functions themselves. That is, near the icons, near the menu bars, etc. (I'd name the links "about these icons" and "about the menu bar", etc). I think Wolf is working on this, and I'd strongly urge Scream to build it in. Again, we won't need this kind of fancy help in the prefs windows, since there we can simply provide copy right next to the fields (see next point)
6. The fields in the pref windows (especially display) need to be much more clearly explained. I was working with Scream on this stuff, but he stopped getting back to me.
7. Regular users (who keep up to date and read every single posting) want to conveniently read thru all new postings. On sites with numerous boards, it's tedious to have to click and sort thru every index. For my site (suffering with a doctored version Matt Wright's script), we've designed a little javascript function called HotPosts that throws up a handy little window showing (unthreaded, of course) all new postings (organized by board) since a user configurable date. Take a look at
http://www.chowhound.com/hotpost/hotposttoo.cgi (running the script this way yields a full-sized window...shrink it down to get the idea). Whether it's a solution like that or something else, it'd be great to make W3T much more convenient for regular users.
8. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe there are still different capabilities re: sorting, etc, in flat versus threaded view. It's very important, from a UI standpoint, to make the functionalities in both views as close to parity as possible. As is, it's a source of confusion.
9. Sorting via the profile window is cumbersome, clumsy, and unintuitive. Should be able to do it right from the indexes themselves.
10. Flat mode should allow you to find the parent message of any given message. Also, along these lines, I kind of wish there were a way for the flat view to do some semblance of quasi "threading" (that is, wherever possible follow messages with replies to that specific message), but I suppose that's a technical quagmire, if not a total impossibility.
11. Why the longish delay after posting? Why not just a second?
12. The FAQ needs revamp and beefing up. "If you have a browser that is Mozilla 4+ compatible" is strictly geek speak (c'mon, at least list the browsers and version numbers!). In general, include many more "How do I..." questions re: more advanced functionality rather than basics (which should be explained, per my earlier points, on the fly...e.g. get those button explanations out of there).
13. Not sure why the real specific date parameters in search...would be so much more powerful/flexible to offer user specified search dates than the hard and fast parameters in the scroll menu. Also (sorry, nitpick), make it "exact phrase" rather than "entire phrase"
14. Default to a much larger message compose window. Unless you guys all disagree, the present default seems uncomfortably small.
15. I hope Scream can fix the bug that makes you have to hit "refresh" an extra time to get current (this was discussed here recently...can't find the exact message, but you guys probably know where it is). "Refresh" is not a newbie maneuver. Maybe the indexes (if they're not already) can be set to refresh cache on every new viewing? That'd have the added advantage of handily inflating our traffic stats (gg).
16. Maybe this is the bug I just referred to, but I'm seeing a thread claiming "NEW" replies in a board index, yet when I look at the thread, there are no posts marked "new" (nor ARE any of them new). I've hit "refresh" on both index and thread pages to no avail. I AM logged on. Stuff like this shakes newbie confidence, because they figure THEY'RE doing something wrong.
17. Been thinking about it, and I think the titles are confusing if your old messages don't update to reflect your current seniority. It's confusing to users if they see Jim Leff-private, Jim Leff-corporal, Jim Leff-captain and Jim Leff-general all on the same board. It makes them not understand what the titles are about. Gerrit said, in another thread, "it would be a bit confusing to read a thread, see someone as "stranger", come back the next day....as "newbie"". Well...I can see that, to some slight degree, but it's not anywhere NEAR as puzzling as the same person having different titles depending on which message you're reading. His point that "it documents the progress, by displaying the title which the user had at the time he was writing the message" is a good/subtle/interesting one, but I don't think the (minutely small) benefit outweighs the confusing weirdness.
18. Why does the "check private" window give you all that info unrelated to private messages (last login, messages posted, a chance to logout)? And why would I want to send an email to myself? Also, those icons are unexplained and unintuitive. And the program should be smart enough to say "you have no private messages" if that's the case. And the footer links should be further down if there are no messages, especially cuz it's such a short page...it looks like I have three private messages called "wwwthreads.com", "contact us" and "forums powered by..."
19. In who's online, what's with the ".pl" suffix on all the location names? It's very techie looking. Also, shouldn't there should be a link to send a specified user (both in the "who's online window" and the "profile" window) a private message (with that user name plugged into the correct field)?
20. AOL Instant Messenger is much more common these days than ICQ. In fact, most newer users don't know ICQ. AIM handle should be a stated option in profile, either instead of or in addition to ICQ.
21. Login/new user registration are a bit confusing. I foresee newbies trying to figure out why they're not able to post, etc etc, because these critical features are somewhat low-profile, tucked into the menu bar. I'd like a front and center invitation to any non-logged on user to register/log in. Perhaps that could be combined with #22 below (please read it quickly and come back!). That is, the welcome screen will tell you why/how to register or log in if you're not recognized (there'll be lots of screen real estate to do a thorough explanation, perhaps even do the whole register and log-in right there!) If you ARE recognized (because you've stored your password, or because you've just registered/logged on), you get the "you've got replies!" message as discussed below.
Two feature requests I'd like to slip in if I might (anyone out there with me on either of these?)
22. The thing that made AOL successful, IMO, wasn't their sending zillions of floppies. It was the compelling Pavlovian response generated by "You've got mail". It tied people to the service in a deep, emotional way that compuserve, genie, etc never provided. Now, in any case, W3T needs some way to quickly find replies to your postings (the email thing is clever, but we want people returning again and again to our sites to CHECK for replies, not just to respond when summoned via email). It'd be great if there was a "you've got replies!" screen that showed users links to those replies. Extra points if it could also (further down the page) link them to new postings in threads in which they'd simply PARTICIPATED. And my extreme gratitude and respect if it could allow them to "mark" threads so that on every new visit this welcome page could link to any new messages posted to these specified threads. If all this could be added, it'd be a TREMENDOUS thing, and would have great impact on tying our users in more tightly. Which is what this community stuff is all about.
23. As I said in another thread, it'd be extremely handy for admins to be able to move posts and/or whole threads to a non-public board (i.e. out of sight except to sender and recipient). You can mediate a flame war, determine whether a post violated a rule (e.g. admin suspects but isn't sure of, say, a copyright violation or other breach of rules), junior admin can await ruling from senior admin while tucking the suspicious thread out of view, etc, etc. Every admin has posts they don't quite want to delete, and this kind of purgatory's a great solution. Compuserve sysops know exactly what I'm talking about with this one...
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