We’re testing a new Forums experience – feedback welcomed

[amanda.k]

Edit 1/13/2025 - Please see the latest news regarding the Community Redesign – Modernizing the Autodesk Forums in the linked post. 

_______________________________________________

Hello Autodesk Community,  

We have launched an A/B test to explore a new and improved forums experience. This test will help us understand what works best for you and ensure that our forums remain an engaging place for everyone, and that you’re easily able to find relevant information for your needs.   

What This Means for You:  

Random Selection: Some users will continue to see the current layout (Group A), while other users will see the new forum layout (Group B).

No Action Needed: You don’t need to do anything differently. Just use the forums as you normally would.  

Valuable Feedback: Your interactions and feedback are incredibly important to us. They will guide us in making the best possible improvements. We welcome feedback in a reply to this post, or you can DM @amanda.k.   

Why Are We Doing This?  

Our goal is to enhance your experience by making the forums more user-friendly, intuitive, and enjoyable. By testing different layouts and features, we can identify what truly resonates with you. We’re also looking to make sure that you can find and see all the additional features and benefits we offer in the Community – such as Events and Blogs.    

  

How You Can Help:  

Engage and Explore: If you’re part of Group A, we encourage you to explore the new features and share your thoughts.  

Share Your Feedback: Whether you’re in Group A or Group B, your feedback is crucial. Let us know what you like, what you don’t, and any suggestions you have.  

  

Thank you for being a part of our community and helping us create the best forums experience possible. We’re excited to hear your thoughts and continue improving together!  

See you on the Community!  

@amanda.k 

Edited 12/12/24, 3:00PM PST to add:

Recordings of Office Hours

December 5, 2024 - Autodesk Community Team Product Team Office Hours recording

December 9, 2024 - Autodesk Community Team Product Team Office Hours recording

December 12, 2024 - Autodesk Community Team Product Team Office Hours recording

December 19, 2024 - Autodesk Community Team Product Team Office Hours recording

Blog Posts from the Product Team:

Week of 12/12/24 - Forum Redesign – New Releases & Office Hours Recap for this week.

Week of 12/6/24 - Forum Redesign – New Releases & Office Hours Recap for this week.

Week of 12/19/24 - Forum Redesign - New Releases & Office Hours Recap for this week

Week of  1/10/2025 - Community Redesign – Modernizing the Autodesk Forums

FAQ - living FAQ document. We are still gathering questions and will be updating it reguarly. 

[m_kingdon]

My first impressions looking at the forum on the desktop on a 27" screen is I don't like this new design.

I have already zoomed out to 80% as I found the new format too large.  It feels like trying to read a whiteboard whilst being 6" away, or watching an IMAX movie whilst being sat at the very front seat.  It is uncomfortable to engage with the forum in this format.

I don't understand the need for the staggered format.  We understand if a post is a reply to another post.  Addressing the user directly in the post via a named link (which some people do) is a much better way rather than staggering posts.

There is a lot of wasted white space.  I don't understand the need for upvoting, I think this would only work in the ideas section of the forum, not the main forum itself.  Conversations flowed rather well in the previous format.  I don't under why certain metrics are being displayed so prominently.  I understand tags and views are somewhat useful in the background, but why shove them in my face?

[m_kingdon]

Also, why can I accept my own post as a solution?  I think the previous method of the post author being able to accept solutions made more sense. 

[amanda.k]

@m_kingdon Very valuable feedback - I aim for transparency, so I've logged this alongside your username so we can circle back around and let you know how the feedback was integrated. Appreciate the time. 

[m_kingdon]

I feel like you are trying to convert the forum into a FAQ page instead.  I understand why this might be valuable for Autodesk but I worry this new forum will disrupt the flow of conversation and reduce engagement.  Please find an alternative way of extracting using information from the forum that doesn’t involve a total redesign.  I think the accepted solution box is a good idea, but integrate it into the old format by making it much smaller would be the best solution in my opinion.

[matt.worland]

My typical workflow on the forums is to open several groups and scan the titles for new replies, and if it's a topic I can help with or learn from, I will open it up and read through the previous posts from where I last left off. This new system doesn't seem to remember the last post I read and brings me to the top of every post, even though I had read parts of that post already. On top of that, an issue in both versions of the forums is the ability to distinguish between a read and unread post when using Dark Mode. In the previous version, I used an Extension (StyleBot) to update the view on my end and find the posts easily. I’m not finding any way to do that in the new version.

In this image, I can't tell which posts are read or unread.

I agree with the sentiment above that there is a lot of extra whitespace. As I reply, I'm finding it hard to see what I'm typing. The reply area should be larger.

[andrewdroth]

I've taken time to provide feedback in the past and it fell on deaf ears. The post doesn't even exist anymore. Or I don't have access anyhow.
https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/community-feedback/are-you-trolling-us/m-p/10066578#M17372

I complained about the layout often enough that Autodesk set up a meeting with some of the staff in charge. I outlined what was valuable and what was unnecessary.  I was told that the feedback was helpful. Nothing changed.

The sentiment stands. Reduce the white-space. Make the posts the focus.

[andrewdroth]

I appreciate the commitment to transparency.

Here are some previous discussions regarding the website design.

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/community-feedback/the-user-experience-of-the-redesigned-form-is-so-m...

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/community-feedback/white-space-revisited/m-p/9730739

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/community-feedback/white-space/m-p/8906573

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/community-feedback/waaaay-too-much-white-space-on-all-pages/m-p/79277...

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/community-feedback/seems-reddit-gets-the-minimize-bloat-idea/m-p/8105...

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/community-feedback/this-website-s-layout-is-just-so-incredibly-frustr...

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/community-feedback/new-idea-hire-this-guy-to-fix-the-forum-redesign/m...

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/community-feedback/well-the-bloat-got-worse-thanks/m-p/7918553

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/community-feedback/any-updates-on-the-bloat/m-p/4752931

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/community-feedback/ideas-pages-are-super-bloated-can-t-scan-for-dupli...

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/community-feedback/the-mobile-version-of-the-forums-is-awful/m-p/9258...

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/community-feedback/example-of-forum-without-as-much-wasted-space/m-p/...

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/community-feedback/if-goods-posts-are-the-goal-of-the-space-wasting-g...

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/community-feedback/why-all-the-layout-changes/m-p/10038006

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/community-ideas/redesigned-forum-remove-all-the-empty-whitespace-and-...

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/community-ideas/reduce-scrolling-whitespace/idc-p/7924783

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/community-ideas/too-much-wasted-space-at-top-of-community-pages/idi-p...

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/community-ideas/waste-time-to-scrool-down-the-pages/idi-p/7926667

[andrewdroth]

I thought some examples from other sites that cater to a technical and professional crowd might be of interest.

These forums are well laid out and serve the user well.

https://stackexchange.com/

https://forums.mydigitallife.net/

https://www.techsupportforum.com/

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/

https://boards.straightdope.com/

https://www.practicalmachinist.com/forum/

https://www.webmasterworld.com/

https://community.spiceworks.com/

https://www.techrepublic.com/forums/

[Chad-Smith]

I noticed the change this morning. My immediate reaction was not good.

However, that doesn't mean I am against change, and appreciate this being A-B tested and requests for feedback before it goes to GA.

I'll start with the individual posts. Despite some of the above comments, I quite like it.

• I like the metadata and buttons on the right panel. I have no problem with the placement and sizing of the information.
• I like the partially threaded comments section.
• I like that the comments can be sorted.

Now for the forum conversations page. This is where I have some very strong opinions.

• Firstly, I see that there is no Big Room banner across the top. I hope it stays this way.
  Why Autodesk feels it needs two community sites in the first place is mind boggling, but that banner in the older UI only serves to confuse people and waste UI space. I've been using uBlock Origin to block the display of any Big Room information to make the forums more readable.
• As others have said, there is too much wasted white space. I'm on a largish 4K monitor, at 100% scaling, and the conversations start in the lower 1/5th of the page. As @andrewdroth said above, make the posts the focus. Reduce everything else.
• Trending? Really? Please don't. Kill it with fire, now! This is not a social media site.
• And lastly is each conversation row. I remember this being far more efficient in the older UI. This fat layout only serves to produce more scrolling.

[Chad-Smith]

Does the 'Mark all as Read' do anything? Everything still remains bold as though it is unread.

[amanda.k]

A few things, all in one reply:

1) Keep the feedback coming. We can't make changes if we don't know about it. 

2) @Chad-Smith - "Mark all as Read" isn't showing the visual change right now. Technically in the back end, where it isn't visible to you, it's working. We're fixing that one ASAP. Your longer feedback has also all been logged, as as I've stated before - we are linking your user name with the feedback so I can take the action to report back to you with the results. 

3) @andrewdroth Thanks for the examples of the forums that you like to review. I've forwarded them on to the devs - I do want to be very clear that this has been in design by UX and product teams for over a year. The only reason I mention this is because I don't want you to have the inkling that we didn't research / design and put time into it - I'm not saying that we're not still listening for examples, we 100% are, and appreciate your links. I also wanted to say that I'm sorry if you felt your feedback didn't get acknowledged or implemented. I'm trying to be the bridge here to ensure that no user feels like this. 

4) @matt.worland  - Thank you again. I sent you a PM, but didn't want anyone to think I didn't acknowledge you! 🙂 

For more feedback, if I "like" your post, you can be assured that I have seen and logged it. I can't promise (depending on volume) I can reply individually like this every time, but a "like" confirms it's seen. 

Again, grateful for your feedback!

Amanda

[Curtis_Waguespack]

@andrewdroth I was blocked from being able to read any of these. But thanks for posting them.

On another forum, I suggested that the current team review the feedback from the last time we went through all of this.

But I didn't know where to find these posts. 

I know it seems so wasteful of our time to go through the same issues again, but fingers crossed that the feedback given this time will yield results, and that Autodesk will hold people accountable to improvement not just change.

[amanda.k]

@Curtis_Waguespack  and @andrewdroth  - these posts are from the Autodesk Community Feedback Board, which was archived several years ago now (I believe at least 3?), which means the content isn't accessible publicly anymore. That feedback also applied to versions of the forums a few versions back - it's actually been updated several times since then. 

That being said, I agree that the changes and why they were/ were not implemented were not communicated, which is something that we are making sure we are not doing again, Frankly, I am impressed that you still have these links. 🙂 

Just wanted to explain why you are getting that permissions error to view them. 

Amanda

[andrewdroth]

Can I assume that the UX team had access to those feedback posts? Seems odd to suggest they are irrelevant after 3 years of updates.

[amanda.k]

@andrewdroth We (employees) still have access, and the general feedback is still relevant - wasn't saying they were irrelevant at all. 🙂

[Sleepingfish_Kuo]

I feel I'm using a mobile website on PC.

so I try using a long window for the forum...
It does perform slightly better than the old one.

But I'm using PC or tablet, not a phone.

and the bug when I keyin many lines the windows jumps away is still here.

[andrewpuller3811]

I just viewed a post and go an error message across the page stating "This widget could not be displayed." in a yellow band.

The post I was viewing is here - https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/visual-lisp-autolisp-and-general/routine-to-preview-all-layouts/m-p/8...

I don't know if this is due to the new layout or not.

[Pointdump]

Hi Amanda,
"This test will help us understand what works best for you and ensure that our forums remain an engaging place for everyone, and that you’re easily able to find relevant information for your needs."
The way the forums WERE works best for me.
This new format has a chilling effect on engaging.
I can't find anything.

In short, I have NOTHING good to say about this horrendous format.
Dave

[rmoore1]

It can't do "mark as read"? Seriously? Why release this mess?