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New Look for Talk To forums

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  • 19-12-2012 4:33pm
    #1
    Dav
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,840 ✭✭✭


    Hello all,

    The design and tech teams have been hard at work these last couple of months on making some substantial changes to how the Talk To forums look and work for us and we're just about ready to roll out an early prototype.

    We're gonna roll this out on the Adverts Talk To forum first for testing purposes

    We still have some bugs that the lads are working on - I'll post that list at the end of this message. I'd ask that you give it a skim if you find an issue to make sure it's not already on our list.

    I think a lot of the changes will speak for themselves. It's something of a move away from "forum" and towards "customer service platform" in the way it's presented. We're trying to make it more straight forward to get an answer if something's already been posted or is an ongoing issue.

    It's worth point out too that Adverts' forum is set up so that only the person who started a thread and a mod can talk on a thread, so if you're trying to comment on another person's thread, it won't work - that's not a fault of the new design, it's the way Adverts wanted their forum set up.

    All feedback and comments are welcome. If you wish to turn the new look off for any reason, this link will do it.

    Bug List begins:
    • Compare and contrast hovering over the "Choose attachment" and the "Go" button in "Jump to page" - no "hover" for Attachment
    • Only post text is used in quoting posts - Text formatting is lost when quoting a post.
    • Can't see a count of thanks when you are logged out or on your own posts. This issue is with design for investigation on how it should look when the thanks button is unavailable.
    Post edited by Shield on


«134

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    #2
    Dravokivich
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Music Moderators, Politics Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 22,360 CMod ✭✭✭✭Dravokivich


    Who sets the priority?

    Reason I ask, is with experience in an IT Call Centre environment, we'd have criteria that needs to match up to determine the priority of an issue.

    So is this determined by criteria, nominated by the user, or verified reps in the talk to forums?

    To be honest, I don't generally consider it to be something that'd need to be visible to the user. Could be problematic at times when not set with a priority that they think it should.


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    #3
    Boards.ie: Danny
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,609 ✭✭✭Boards.ie: Danny


    Priority for bugs is set by the tech team. That table was copied straight from our issue tracker, superfluous data will trimmed soonly (looking at the priority and status columns)

    Danny


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    #4
    seamus
    Registered Users Posts: 68,317 ✭✭✭✭seamus


    Immediate suggestion; some kind of tooltip/help button beside the response time/response rate figures to explain what they actually mean. What is a 70% response rate? Does that mean 3/10 threads are being ignored, etc?

    It's good though, I like it. Logical and clear.


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    #5
    Boards.ie: Danny
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,609 ✭✭✭Boards.ie: Danny


    seamus wrote: »
    Immediate suggestion; some kind of tooltip/help button beside the response time/response rate figures to explain what they actually mean. What is a 70% response rate? Does that mean 3/10 threads are being ignored, etc?

    Pretty much, yes.

    The response rate is the percentage of threads created in the last 28 days that have responses from official talk-to representatives (as listed in the widget).

    The response time is the average time between thread opening and the first response in threads created in the last 28 days (that have rep responses).

    Danny


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    #6
    seamus
    Registered Users Posts: 68,317 ✭✭✭✭seamus


    Boards.ie: Danny wrote: »
    The response time is the average time between thread opening and the first response in threads created in the last 28 days (that have rep responses).
    Aha. You see, I assumed that 6hrs was an SLA, not a rolling average.

    Definitely a good idea to stick little help links in there beside those numbers. :)


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    #7
    Dav
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,840 ✭✭✭Dav


    Update: I removed the table format on the bug list, it was causing some confusion :) Carry on...


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    #8
    GRMA
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,417 ✭✭✭GRMA


    It's worth point out too that Adverts' forum is set up so that only the person who started a thread and a mod can talk on a thread,

    Will that be the same on the other talk to forums?

    One thing I've noticed in the last couple of days looking through the vodafone one in particular is that some questions etc are answered by other posters before the reps get there... they obviously cant be around 24/7. Would be bad to lose the community aspect imo.

    And theres also threads were you get you get lots of people complaining, or praising or whatever, about similar issues... they'd also disappear if only a mod and one poster can talk on a thread. I'd hope that the talk to forums wouldn't totally lose their forum nature.

    Good initiative though, I like the talk to forums, especially the currys/pcworld one.


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    #9
    Boards.ie: Danny
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,609 ✭✭✭Boards.ie: Danny


    GRMA wrote: »
    Will that be the same on the other talk to forums?

    No, not unless other companies choose to change the way their forums operate themselves
    Dav wrote: »
    ...it's the way Adverts wanted their forum set up.


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    #10
    28064212
    Registered Users Posts: 10,473 ✭✭✭✭28064212


    Looks good, being able to see the opening hours at a glance is a huge improvement on its own, but bug alert: the sticky header stays on, even if you have it turned off in the main site.

    Boardsie Enhancement Suite - a browser extension to make using Boards on desktop a better experience (includes full-width display, keyboard shortcuts, dark mode, and more). Now available through your browser's extension store.

    Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/addon/boardsie-enhancement-suite/

    Chrome/Edge/Opera: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/boardsie-enhancement-suit/bbgnmnfagihoohjkofdnofcfmkpdmmce



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    #11
    Sully
    Moderators, Education Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators, Regional South East Moderators Posts: 24,056 Mod ✭✭✭✭Sully


    Browser: Google Chrome (Latest - 23.0.1271.97 m)
    OS: Windows XP
    Res: 1024*768

    Bugs:

    Can't see the footer in some thread views. When I scroll down, it kicks me back up the page.

    eg
    http://www.boards.ie/ttfthread/2055947436
    http://www.boards.ie/ttfthread/2055763644

    Also, sometimes when I scroll down in a thread the sidebox with the opening hours is cut from view.

    eg
    http://www.boards.ie/ttfthread/2056835674
    AdvertBug_thumb.jpg

    I assume its normal that the Edit Post feature isn't using the new design? Likewise Email to a Friend uses the old design.

    On searching, it appears to be sorted with the oldest result first and newest last. So I see 2009 at the top and scroll down ill get a 2013 result. Doesn't appear to be a method of filtering how I see the results.

    Selecting 'Post New Thread' from Drop Down Menu for Forum Tools gives the old post screen.

    Ideas::

    Might be an idea to have a little 'PM' button beside each staff member, assuming they take PMs (or just the one beside the account that takes PMs).

    I know you have the opening hours but maybe a simple 'Open' 'Closed' indication would be nice?


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    #12
    Boards.ie: Danny
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,609 ✭✭✭Boards.ie: Danny


    Sully wrote: »
    Browser: Google Chrome (Latest - 23.0.1271.97 m)
    OS: Windows XP
    Res: 1024*768

    Bugs:

    Can't see the footer in some thread views. When I scroll down, it kicks me back up the page.

    eg
    http://www.boards.ie/ttfthread/2055947436
    http://www.boards.ie/ttfthread/2055763644

    Also, sometimes when I scroll down in a thread the sidebox with the opening hours is cut from view.

    eg
    http://www.boards.ie/ttfthread/2056835674
    AdvertBug_thumb.jpg

    People still use small resolutions? :p I'll file these as bugs to take a look at, thanks for the reports
    Sully wrote: »
    I assume its normal that the Edit Post feature isn't using the new design? Likewise Email to a Friend uses the old design.

    Perfectly normal - the full UI is not complete; All editing and moderation is still pushed back onto vBulletin and will be for the foreseeable future.
    Sully wrote: »
    On searching, it appears to be sorted with the oldest result first and newest last. So I see 2009 at the top and scroll down ill get a 2013 result. Doesn't appear to be a method of filtering how I see the results.

    The ordering isn't oldest first, it's based on some relevancy algorithm. I'm not 100% sure on what that algorithm encompasses though but perhaps it needs some tweaking - care to provide some example searches?
    Sully wrote: »
    Selecting 'Post New Thread' from Drop Down Menu for Forum Tools gives the old post screen.

    We'll kill that I think, thanks


    Danny


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    #13
    Sully
    Moderators, Education Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators, Regional South East Moderators Posts: 24,056 Mod ✭✭✭✭Sully


    Boards.ie: Danny wrote: »
    People still use small resolutions? :p I'll file these as bugs to take a look at, thanks for the reports

    Tis the mothers machine I am using. I need to fix mine, memory seems to be gone potty but haven't had a chance to look at it. Thanks for the reminder :p


    The ordering isn't oldest first, it's based on some relevancy algorithm. I'm not 100% sure on what that algorithm encompasses though but perhaps it needs some tweaking - care to provide some example searches?

    I searched for Christmas first, and it came 2009-2010. When I posted about Christmas, its given me my thread first and then again in the 2009-2010 order. A search for Google is mixed date wise. Searching for 'Complaint' also goes from 2009 first.

    It just makes more sense to have newer results ahead of older ones. But this seems a bit mixed.

    Anybody else lined up or thinking of using this? No names needed, just curious is it just Adverts interested?


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    #14
    bpb101
    Registered Users Posts: 2,827 ✭✭✭bpb101


    Personally , i dont like the way the Adverts.ie Help Desk Representatives tab isent pinned down. I'm also not a big fan of the autohide for the boards forums at the top.

    Question: for people who are still using the old skin, will the notifications with the big red number been seen for them (the one beside your profile name) when surfing this thread or is this a bug?

    I do like the response time and the worktime idea however


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    #15
    roast
    Registered Users Posts: 2,320 ✭✭✭roast


    First thing that springs to mind is PM's.
    However, I'm going to assume that this isn't mentioned as it's still in beta. If that's the case - ignore the rest of this post! :pac:

    It might be worthwhile having a PM option at the top of the Representatives list. Some of the Talk To reps cannot receive individual PMs, and request that PMs be sent to a "global" inbox, accessible by all the Reps. I've noticed this results in a lot of posters unable to send a PM to the reps, as they may not have seen the link in the signature, or have Signatures disabled in their preferences.

    EDIT:Other than that, I like it. It's fresh, clean, and should definitely be easier for the reps to use and manage, as well as the posters. Good stuff! :D


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    #16
    Boards.ie: Danny
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,609 ✭✭✭Boards.ie: Danny


    roast wrote: »
    First thing that springs to mind is PM's.
    However, I'm going to assume that this isn't mentioned as it's still in beta. If that's the case - ignore the rest of this post! :pac:

    It might be worthwhile having a PM option at the top of the Representatives list. Some of the Talk To reps cannot receive individual PMs, and request that PMs be sent to a "global" inbox, accessible by all the Reps. I've noticed this results in a lot of posters unable to send a PM to the reps, as they may not have seen the link in the signature, or have Signatures disabled in their preferences.

    EDIT:Other than that, I like it. It's fresh, clean, and should definitely be easier for the reps to use and manage, as well as the posters. Good stuff! :D

    As we roll this out to more companies there will no longer be a need to tell users to PM a specific account that's a catch all/global account. Modifications have been made so that if you PM a rep it will check if there is a global inbox assigned to that company and will redirect your PM to there in the background.

    Danny


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    #17
    Taco Corp
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,718 ✭✭✭Taco Corp


    First thing I noticed that was that regular categories are hidden. What's the thinking on that? Once a someone has used the Talk To forums, you want them to use the rest of the site, right? So it should be more obvious what's available. The breadcrumbs aren't enough and the categories list across the top isn't that intrusive.

    Also, with the move to a new look, I think the Talk To forums should get their own category.


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    #18
    Steve
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 22,584 CMod ✭✭✭✭Steve


    seamus wrote: »
    Immediate suggestion; some kind of tooltip/help button beside the response time/response rate figures to explain what they actually mean. What is a 70% response rate? Does that mean 3/10 threads are being ignored, etc?
    Yeah - ongoing discussion there because if an adverts mod (as opposed to an official rep) replies, it isn't reflected in the stats but that's unique to that particular forum at the mo.
    Captain_Hindsight wrote: »
    Also, with the move to a new look, I think the Talk To forums should get their own category.
    They already have - it's the 'talk-to' category :)


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    #19
    Taco Corp
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,718 ✭✭✭Taco Corp


    Steve wrote: »

    They already have - it's the 'talk-to' category :)

    I meant category as in Arts, Biz, Edu, etc are categories. I'm probably using the wrong term. The talk to forums might not be that obvious to a new user


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    #20
    Steve
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 22,584 CMod ✭✭✭✭Steve


    Captain_Hindsight wrote: »
    I meant category as in Arts, Biz, Edu, etc are categories. I'm probably using the wrong term. The talk to forums might not be that obvious to a new user
    Yeah, it's a sub cat of biz but point taken :)


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    #21
    thebman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,012 ✭✭✭✭thebman


    I think the whole idea of calling to talk to needs to be looked at.

    Maybe Marketing came up with it but it doesn't really portray support forums for businesses including boards and others such as Gamesnash.ie and it should be more prominent IMO.

    I think the concept is very good but I would never have thought to look there for them. In fact, I've seen people post links to the Gamesnash one on gaming threads but never actually knew how to naviate to it.

    I presume they are paying for it so taking Gamesnash as an example, they could have a link to their Talkto in the games section on boards.ie like a sub-forum of that category for a Talk to Gamesnash which dropping the talk to label, I would prefer to be renamed Gamesnash Customer Support. Just an idea, could be something similar, guess it depends on what customers want it portrayed as.

    Similarly Vodafone would be under broadband/mobile in that forum. Extreme brownie points if you can spot someone typing <customer name here> into the thread title and produce a non-intrusive info pop-up that informs them that this company has a dedicated talk to forum.

    The advantage of such a system even if it just redirects back to the talk to forum under biz and isn't actually a subforum is that it would direct user issues or questions directly to those customers forums bypassing the inevitable thread in broadband/Games with an immediate reply informing them of their talk to forum.

    Also people are more polite when they think they are talking to official support so for example you see thread titles like "<insert company name here> are ****", they would most likely reduce which would make the talk to a more compeling offering for the companies signing up for it since it would reduce the amount of very negative thread titles under the main forum that they would get.

    I think it would also reduce the number of threads asking questions like "Are <such and such> any use?" when there is a talk to forum about that company that you could just go into and see is that company actually answering users queries. If possible (though if they are paying for it, companies may not like the idea so maybe leave it up to the company to enable for us regular users to view it and just have it viewable by their representatives to mark issues resolved), users should be able to mark their query resolved (using a prefix I think it is called) and then users could see what companies have higher resolution rates for issues if they are thinking of signing up for a service where competing companies both have talk to forums. You could have statistics offered about it but I don't think it is really necessary as you can see from the first few pages browsing manually if the issues are getting resolved or not over a past few weeks.

    Just some ideas. On the new layout, the ask a question button doesn't stand out and it should be beside the search as a button link I think that brings me to a new page for asking the question rather than changing the whole look of the existing page which I found to be unexpected behavior. It could stay on the same page and come up in one of those pop ups within a page (something like linked below but better looking :)).

    http://www.html-form-guide.com/files/contact-form/simple-popup-form-1/a-page.php

    Oh yes the auto-hide thing for forum category part is really annoying and completely unexpected. It should have some kind of UI clue that it exists.


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    #22
    Mimikyu
    Registered Users Posts: 18,904 ✭✭✭✭Mimikyu


    This post has been deleted.


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    #23
    _Kaiser_
    Registered Users Posts: 28,679 ✭✭✭✭_Kaiser_


    First impression... oh god, that awful white skin is back! :mad: (as someone who now uses the new Dark one since it was implemented).

    As with the rest of the site there's so much wasted space in this new "Everything has to look like I-can't-believe-it's not-Metro" touch screen style layout that's taken over. Thankfully it's not as obvious/irritating/sore on the eyes with the Dark skin but I think you really need to go back to the drawing board on the default overload of (literally) glaringly white empty space

    This isn't just a rant against "new for the sake of it", I'm using Office 2013 here too on the work laptop and this new layout that's being pushed generally just sacrifices readibility and functionality for this latest fad of big square blocky formatting IMO. Take Office here.. compared to 2010 everything is so washed out and harder to see things at a glance it just makes no sense. Ditto the new Talk To layout.

    Aside from this, I'd agree the nav bar should be retained in full at the top. It is still Boards after all, right? Also I'm not a fan of things following me down the screen (the status/rep box on the right in this case), but that's a personal preference.

    Sorry to be so negative.. at least ye are asking for feedback after all. Maybe it'll look better with the Dark skin?


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    #24
    Boards.ie: Neil
    Closed Accounts Posts: 503 ✭✭✭Boards.ie: Neil


    Sully wrote: »
    I searched for Christmas first, and it came 2009-2010. When I posted about Christmas, its given me my thread first and then again in the 2009-2010 order. A search for Google is mixed date wise. Searching for 'Complaint' also goes from 2009 first.

    It just makes more sense to have newer results ahead of older ones. But this seems a bit mixed.

    Anybody else lined up or thinking of using this? No names needed, just curious is it just Adverts interested?

    We've just rolled out a tweak to the weighting of the search results which should give some more accuracy to the result set.

    Bare in mind though that we still feel that the relevancy of a post is more important in the majority of cases so for broad search terms like "complaint" or "problem"; the result set will still be quite broad, trying to weight what's relevant and what's new isn't quite exact science.


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    #25
    Sully
    Moderators, Education Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators, Regional South East Moderators Posts: 24,056 Mod ✭✭✭✭Sully


    I see Curry's / PC World are using the 'new look'. But there is a 'Web Team' account missing from the list of reps. :)


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    #26
    Boards.ie: Rónán
    Closed Accounts Posts: 382 ✭✭Boards.ie: Rónán


    Sully wrote: »
    I see Curry's / PC World are using the 'new look'. But there is a 'Web Team' account missing from the list of reps. :)

    Thanks, they're in now.


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    #27
    SnowDrifts
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,733 ✭✭✭SnowDrifts


    Small bug and not sure if it has already been mentioned - when I click on "last page" of a talk to forum thread from my followed threads section, it now brings me to the first page of the said thread.


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    #28
    Boards.ie: Rónán
    Closed Accounts Posts: 382 ✭✭Boards.ie: Rónán


    SnowDrifts wrote: »
    Small bug and not sure if it has already been mentioned - when I click on "last page" of a talk to forum thread from my followed threads section, it now brings me to the first page of the said thread.

    We'll get a fix in for this today, thanks for the heads up.


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    #29
    devil-80
    Registered Users Posts: 955 ✭✭✭devil-80


    New skin is very bad in my opinion and also Mark the forum as read not working getting "[object HTMLInputElement]"


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    #30
    eirator
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,520 ✭✭✭eirator


    I don't like the new look and think the statistics of Responce Time and Responce Rates are pointless.

    Whats the point of having either when the main responce is PM me your details?

    btw currently the
    Switch off beta look link takes you to http://www.boards.ie/ttforum/1200 Adverts support


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    #31
    Boards.ie: Rónán
    Closed Accounts Posts: 382 ✭✭Boards.ie: Rónán


    eirator wrote: »
    I don't like the new look and think the statistics of Responce Time and Responce Rates are pointless.

    Whats the point of having either when the main responce is PM me your details?

    btw currently the
    Switch off beta look link takes you to http://www.boards.ie/ttforum/1200 Adverts support

    Thanks for the feedback. The opt out link has been removed now


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