New forum website design for mobile devices?

New forum website design for mobile devices?

Anonymous
Not applicable
6,263 Views
15 Replies
Message 1 of 16

New forum website design for mobile devices?

Anonymous
Not applicable

Is new design supposed for mobile devices? Do you have a PC version? Because I want to have more info on my screen than just a header and a button

6,264 Views
15 Replies
Replies (15)
Message 2 of 16

Anonymous
Not applicable

Definitely from the point of PC the new spacing and font size has not been an upgrade as a lot less information is contained. I don't think that zooming out the web page solves the problem completely either.

To make it clear comparing Autodesk with Adobe pages, both optimized for mobile, at 100% Zoom in Chrome. In Autodesk We can see 3 posts in the same window size and in Adobe 8.  I think is unnecessary for Adobe the right column, but removing it gives Autodesk extra space for the additional info they display about each post.

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Message 3 of 16

Anonymous
Not applicable

What I don't understand is that Autodesk is all about CPU and GPU hungry applications running on PCs only, its users are technical specialists who work with precise pointing devices and PCs. Why did they make the website for mobile devices considering that their users are mostly PC users?

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Message 4 of 16

Anonymous
Not applicable

Many people now checks internet in his mobile devices. To reach the maximum audiency the companies are forced to make it compatible with mobile. But there is plenty of experience in making compatible both mobile and PC without making any of them worse, for example the Adobe website and most of sites. There is no need to sacrifice one platform for the other.

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Message 5 of 16

Anonymous
Not applicable

I understand that many people use mobile devices to go online but they don't visit Autodesk, they visit youtube. People who go to Autodesk are people of narrow interest - 3D modelling. They do not use smartphones for 3d rendering, they use PCs and 2-3 monitors, they don't need a smartphone to read Autodesk forums.

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Message 6 of 16

Anonymous
Not applicable

Many people use phone and tablet together with PC to check Autodesk. It is odd currently a person without smartphone checking internet, whatever he does. At least I do, I'm using a tablet in this moment.

In any case regardless of that topic both can be  compatible and also a nice experience in both, that is not the case in the current version.

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Message 7 of 16

PROH
Advisor
Advisor

This new design is absolute garbage. It's clearly not directed towards professional 3D and CAD users, but towards children instead. Maybe a pointer for Autodesks future direction?

 

Just another brainless step backwards..... Will it ever stop?

___________________________________________________________________________________________________
3dsMax 4.2 to 2018
AutoCAD 2000 to 2018
Infrastructure Design Suite Premium 2012 to 2018

Message 8 of 16

Anonymous
Not applicable

I think would be easy for them to adjust the proper proportions and I hope they will. I would not consider final a version that has just been shipped without having in mind the opinion of the users.

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Message 9 of 16

leeminardi
Mentor
Mentor

I am disappointed in the new website design for the Autodesk forum.

 

As I see it there are three types of visitors to the Forum sites:

  1. A user who is looking for the answer to a product question.
  2. A user who is looking to see if there is a posted question that they could help to answer.’
  3. Everyone else. This may be someone who is curious about what sorts of questions are being asked, someone who may want to expand their general product knowledge by looking at posted solutions, etc.

I place myself in category #2.  I am an experience CAD user who has posted many solutions and tips on the AutoCAD and 3ds Max forums.

 

What are the Forum needs for these three types of users?

 

Forum user type #1 will most likely use a search function to first find out if their question has already been asked.  This search will most likely take place outside of an Autodesk site where the search results may point them to an Autodesk forum.  For this user, the listing of current active questions at the Forum is not relevant.  They do not care what other questions have been asked.  They are only concerned with their immediate question.

 

Forum user type #2 wants to do a quick check of all current questions to see if any user might benefit from their expertise.  For this user it is important to be able to see as large a list as feasible of current question topics. The question subject should be short and stand out.  Other information such as date and who posted the question should be less prominent and indented so the list of questions can be easily scanned.   The excessive line  spacing of the new format makes scanning the list of questions more difficult than the old format.

I access the Forum from my PC and iPad. When using the PC it is easy and fairly quick to get additional information about a question or user by just dwelling the mouse over the question or username. I often checkout the Forum from my iPad while watching TV.  With the iPad it is slow and awkward to get this additional information.  After touching the question twice on the iPad (once isn’t enough) there’s a delay and then three inches of header (AutoCAD logo, etc.) is displayed and you must scroll to see the full question.  Very awkward.

 

Forum user type #3 wants to see a list of questions that is easily scanned to see what may be of interest to them.  Again, the verbose and excessive white space of the new layout is not conductive to this type of user.

 

Stats

It was nice to see the stats of various posters.  In addition to providing a indication of the level of experience of a poster it is also a motivational tool.  I’ll have to admit I take pleasure in seeing my kudos and solution counts increase.  Although this information is still available it takes an additional action (and time) to access.

 

Recommendation

Since I imagine a lot of effort have been expended for the new website format and implementation it is probably unrealistic to go back to the old format.  I suggest that some tightening of the layout for the new format should be done with a minimal effort.  Get rid of the excessive white space for the both the list-of-questions page and the response pages, put question post date and last response date on the same line.  If Autodesk is open to improving the layout I am willing to provide more detailed recommendations.

 

Lee Minardi

lee.minardi
Message 10 of 16

Anonymous
Not applicable

I like the fact the top bar now is permanent and doesn't disappear with the scroll. I guess they could add more options there.

 

Message 11 of 16

Anonymous
Not applicable

thx guys, this information help me a lot!

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Message 12 of 16

hagen.deloss
Autodesk
Autodesk

Wow, this is all great conversation!

 

I will pass this whole thread along to the forum folks, I'm assuming they will be doing another pass on the format at some point!

 

I agree, some of the white space and formatting is a little large and could be optimized further 😄

 

I think the general idea to format for both mobile and web is to optimize for who is visiting the forums, and what devices they use. A large portion of the folks that look at the forums are students, so i would take that into account as well!

 

Thankfully none of the formatting effects the wonderful content folks are posting here every day, so that's a bonus! I really appreciate everyone's input and will hand over all this information to the people that can do something with it.

 

 



Hagen Deloss
Community Manager | Media & Entertainment
Installation & Licensing forums | Contact product support | Autodesk AREA


 

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Message 13 of 16

Anonymous
Not applicable

I don't usually build website design and web platform . I prefer to trust the professionals .My last website was made by the professional team from this company 3magine.com . They provide all the options to create a website from zero and also they integrate the web site for the mobile alternative. They have quite a lot of finished projects that are very successfully occupied its niche in the web design .

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Message 14 of 16

Anonymous
Not applicable

I think Adobe design is better. The letters and all the elements are smaller and I agree that the right-side column is extra. But let's not forget that both of them are top sites, with a lot of visitors. People visit them most for the service and not for admiring the design. They have a basic design that makes the job. The customers can easy navigate thru the site wich is the most important. And both the sites are fast. Like I said, Adobe's site is better overall. Better looking I mean. I have a little tech company and I asked a web design toronto company to build a similar designed site with Adobe.

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Message 15 of 16

Anonymous
Not applicable

Yes, but users can also use their mobile phones to read Autodesk tutorials ...

 

-----------------------------------------------------

my work: laptop gaming cũ tphcm

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Message 16 of 16

MarvinNunezzdei
Community Visitor
Community Visitor

Yes. A year ago, I decided that I needed a website design for flooring companies. Using the WordPress platform, I got a full-fledged website to attract clients. Of course, we did not forget about the mobile adaptation. On good sites, it must be present because setting up ads, people can come to your site, for example, from Instagram or Facebook. People mostly sit on these platforms through their phones. So a mobile version is just necessary for the site. People need to understand where they are and what they're reading about.

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