Having regularly used the old Training Zone 'any answers' area and attempted to engage with the new 'discussions' area it would appear that the new section is not landing with people and I just wondered why that is? For me the new version of 'Training Zone' seems clunky and not as straight-forward to use. It may be the browser I'm using (Google Chrome) but I seem to get 'functions' that overlap each other on the screen so I struggled to even get this thread started as over the top of this function I see a tool bar that allow me to access other content but stope me from typing this discussion point. Also, as you scroll down; adverts appear in the middle of articles and other content which makes it quite frustrating to read articles. I was a regular user of sister site HR Zone but stopped using that when it was relaunched because it became more clunky, what do other people think?
11 Responses
Hi Clive,
Hi Clive,
Thanks for your feedback. I’ve been wondering the same thing about the Discuss area – Any Answers was always a popular area for TrainingZone and we were hoping that the relaunch wouldn’t affect this, but activity is definitely less than before.
I understand that there is always going to be an adjustment period when a site gets a redesigned, especially one with as strong a community as TZ, but likewise our main aim is to make the site as intuitive and simple for users as possible, so if something isn’t working or could be improved we definitely want to know about it. If you’re finding the sites clunky this is a problem we need to address sooner rather than later.
If you’d like to go into more detail you can email me (shonette.laffy@siftmedia.co.uk), or I’d be interested to hear more of what both you and our other members think about the new look and what could be improved.
Hi Clive.
Hi Clive.
I must admit, I’ve felt the same way and it’s only today, since launch, that I have tried to access it properly as I’ve been putting off for this reason. Might be just a case of getting used to it, but I liked the simple the list of discussions that used to be available. Perhaps it will grow on us…
I’ve tried going in today
I’ve tried going in today using Internet Explorer and it looks much better than via Google Chrome; less cluttered and clunky and no function overlaps. My suggestion to get people interested in joining the ‘discussion’ is maybe asking people that you know might have the expertise to answer the questions being raised; hopefully that might get the discussion started.
Hi, yes as a recent re
Hi, yes as a recent re-visitor it is clean – but not functional.
many sites are making the same mistakes as they move to “mobile” friendly sites.
Its new day 1 for me, I will give it a while.. but what works best for mobile are very simple sites, complex ones like this need to be divided into sub sites to work well
ps – the width of the adverts
ps – the width of the adverts causes a lot of white space & scrolling which is putting me off!
I’m just back on the site
I’m just back on the site after a long break but it was the relaunch email that brought me back. It works ok on my iPad but def takes getting used to. (Perhaps just a simple renaming on Ask Any Q would suffice, TZ?)
I really like that I can easily find questions that I previously posted – somehow I struggled with that before!
At the risk of sounding like
At the risk of sounding like a Luddite, I have also found this a struggle. I normally like to get to something within 2 clicks and it took me considerably more than that to find the Discussions forum. I’ll persevere though, ‘change agent’ and all that!
Hi Jane, after posting this
Hi Jane, after posting this subject originally, I’m now getting more into it. I had to change my browser though to accommodate the new layout. I think once you know where it is, you could get here within two clicks. I still don’t think there is as much activity on here as the old Any Answers though. Perhaps people are too busy to get to know the new layout. A suggestion for the guys from TZ; maybe you could post some navigation videos on the home page?
Thanks Clive – we’ve got a
Thanks Clive – we’ve got a few different ideas for making sure the site is as simple and intuitive to use as possible, and video tutorials are a good idea.
We’re keen to get regular feedback from members on what we can do to improve areas of the site, and the Discuss are in particular is a priority for me as it was always such an important area for members in the previous version of the site. Partly it’s a case of users getting familiar with the new layout and process for posting/responding to questions, but we can also do more to promote this area of the site and make the functionality & layout even better. All suggestions welcome!
Thanks Shonette; I think one
Thanks Shonette; I think one of the problems is that there are a few posts that are unanswered which gives the impression that this may not be a particularly useful function. I know you have replied yourself to some and shared the questions with the social media feed but some still remain unanswered. An idea is maybe to have a panel of experts you can share questions with either as a group or as individuals (obviously you would need to establish the areas of expertise). I think your first step is to get each post answered and then get the people who have received advice, ideas to follow-up with what they have done with the advice. Some people have posted quite unique challenges and I would always be interested in what they did with the suggestions they received.
This is actually quite close
This is actually quite close to an idea we’re already honing – but using it to ensure every Discuss post is answered and then followed up would be very beneficial. Thanks again!