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. 

[stdpattern]

I have basically stopped except for this thread and one that I started in the powermill forum about this change. Anything else not woth doing at this time.

[neaton]

I have to agree with so many users here. 

• I am on a mobile and there is too much wasted white space everywhere in the new format.
• Go back to the way text was formatted before with 1.5(?) line spacing between paragraphs instead of 2x.
• Spacing within the paragraph text even seems larger resulting in more white/wasted space. 
• Trending is irrelevant. This isn't Meta.
• "All" tab should be default, and "Trending" as an optional choice.
• Fix the programming issue of the comment window underneath the Browse Files... portion of the page so you can't see what you're typing.

Nancy

[mat_hijs]

I wouldn't necessarily say that "Trending" is irrelevant. It could for example be useful to show posts that aren't really a question that will give a straight answer but an actual discussion. That being said, it definitely shouldn't be the default.

[Simon_Weel]

I said it before - let users decide which layout they want to use.

To be clear; not only during the testing phase.

[girshdv249]

It seems like you have no questions, but then you read other people's questions and want to know everything😊

[a_meteni]

The overall appearance looks fine to me and I think I will end up liking it better after considering all valuable contributions above, but I'm just wondering why the Forum title starts in 'Bold" then changes to "Narrow" after few seconds?

Also I can' t find the "Top Solutions Authors" anywhere!

[Chad-Smith]

@amanda.k Not sure if this has been mentioned elsewhere, but what is the expected timeframe that this A/B testing will run?

I'd like to get back to regular forum use, but I simply can't in its current form. Especially the lack of Mark as Read.

[rw_skinner]

Try deleting all your cache and cookies for this website then restart the browser.  It worked for me.

[rw_skinner]

Because they marched on with a years worth of work, without knowing what their audience really wanted.  Sometimes it worth reading the room before jumping out there and doing something drastic.  Just saying.  As a software developer myself, I never do a total redesign on the UI without compiling a wish list of items then performing a survey on what people really want.  Then ask for select group of alpha and beta testers then a prerelease to gauge the acceptance.

It seems to me Autodesk is making too much money and they needed to spend some of it, so a major chunk got allocated to modernizing the forums.  Now, I agree that most of the old design was acceptable and could use simple improvements like threaded replies.  I personally would like a list of topics with a preview of the first few lines of the body.  I do that with my email and it brings interest in whether I open it or not.  Most topics don't explain the issue/question very well. 

BTW, the reply box loses focus where the cursor is and you have to hunt for it, especially on an edit.!!!  Enlarging the reply box more to begin with would be a good start, the default 3 lines is a little limited in my opinion. 

[Sleepingfish_Kuo]

Maybe others don't search and ask new questions that frequently.

Change back the default setting to "This board", please.

When I'm searching how to solve some problem in a product, I don't care about how to do it in other products.

...and more, auto select the product and forum for me when "post to forums". Just like I click "post to forums"(old UI) or "Start a topic"(new UI) in the forum.

[amanda.k]

Hi everyone, I wanted to pop in and set the expectation that I am OOO from 11/25 until 12/2 (just me, not the developers or designers), so responses may be a little delayed, but that they are still reading these threads and compiling the feedback.

Also, shortly you will see an invite go up on this thread - the teams have offered to do an Office Hours, so you can ask questions and direct feedback to the Product and UX teams for the Forums A/B test. This is the first time we've done one of these in the 6 years I have been on the Community Team, and I appreciate their willingness to do so!  The Office Hours will be Q&A style with a set timeframe on this post that they will be answering questions live to. 

The Office Hours will be the week of December 2nd, and the times are TBA, but they will be posting here shortly with that information. When we have the set time and date I will also be cross-posting it to the other threads across the forums, so they are aware too. 

Thank you for your feedback, direct examples of things that aren't working for you, and your sentiment. Apologies that I am out of office, but know that the replies are still being read and that I will catch up with specific users when I am back. 

Amanda

[rhesusminus]

It would be very good use of time if the team would answer some of the questions up front here, like what the goal for this change is, so that we don't waste time on those things.

[amanda.k]

@rhesusminus more from the team:

• We regularly run experiments to learn more about how our customers will engage with new components, layouts, or designs so that we can keep iterating and improving the experience. These designs are tests so that we can continue to evolve them to meet their needs based on how you’re using the features and functionality.
• Experiments are intended to compare the existing experience with new designs so that we can understand the impact of the changes.
• The only data we're evaluating is related to how users are engaging with the features as well as the feedback and comments in these threads, which provide more context to what we see.

They are putting together a FAQ this week I believe that goes into more details of the specific questions I have grabbed from the threads on the forums, including a more in depth description of the goals. I can't promise it will be up this week, but I will make sure it is up prior to the Office Hours. 

Amanda

[Curtis_Waguespack]

---

@rhesusminus wrote:

It would be very good use of time if the team would answer some of the questions up front here, like what the goal for this change is, so that we don't waste time on those things.

---

I would agree. 

@amanda.k or someone else on the community management team, here are some questions that I think it would be helpful to have answered.

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

update: now that they have changed their minds and are doing live updates some of these questions are no longer valid

Generally,  A/B tests are used to test elements of a design,  not to introduce an entirely new layout. The goal being to test very specific questions, not drastically change the functionality. Disruption being the enemy of clean tests results in this type of testing.

Q: How do you explain the use of a disruptive redesign version with an A/B test? And what has been done to ensure the disruption doesn't obscure the data results?

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

The feedback has clearly shown that the new test forum experience is perceived as a step backwards in terms of user experience, compared to the Current/Control layout, and as such it is offering a negative user experience.

Typically, with A/B testing we would want to ensure that bugs and nonfunctioning features are not present, otherwise those things interfere with the test.

Q: How are you mitigating the distractions caused by the negative experience, so that you ensure the data collected is meaningful?

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

If it were suggested that you halt the test, regroup , and return with a better version based on the feedback collected so far, and then pick up testing in the near future...

Q: What reasons can you provide to the userbase for why that approach would not be taken at this time?

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

Just for clarification of jargon... on the community announcement it is stated:

• Current/Control layout = Group B
• New forum layout = Group A

Generally, in A/B tests it would be the other way around, so this has caused some confusion.

Q: Can you clarify how the Product and UX teams are referring to this? And if these teams have made a conscious effort to reverse the standard new/old labeling, can you explain why?

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

When doing an A/B test comparing the old (A) to the new (B), generally the new B product would never be less finished or robust than the existing A product. Doing so sets up the test version to be perceived as a step backward.

The test version that was introduced in this A/B test was an extreme Minimum Viable Product which contained obvious layout issues, features that initially didn’t work or did nothing, and regressions to features that worked in the existing version.

Q: Why was this test started with a test version that was so inferior to the existing control version?

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

The new test release / redesign presents a very low-quality user experience that community users recognize to be far below the quality of the tools and experience expected from Autodesk.

It seems clear that the test version doesn’t come close to delivering the “more user-friendly, intuitive, and enjoyable” design that was advertised as the intended overall goal.

The promise of improvement coupled with the delivery of a regressed, painful user experience has caused distrust and resentment from the users toward the community management team who have had to deal with the negative fallout of this design created by the Product and UX teams.

Q: Are you aware of this? If not, why not?

Q: Now that you are aware, can you speak to the decision to continue with this test, knowing of the very real, negative impact it is having on users, the community team, and the trust in the Product and UX teams to deliver the high quality experience expected from Autodesk?

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

This new test version introduced so many changes right along with bugs/regressions that it has been very difficult for the users to understand what the actual goals of the test are.

Q: Can you list the specific test goals of this A/B test and the questions each ( intended) change is meant to answer?  It might be helpful to also identify the unintended  bugs/regressions.

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

[amanda.k]

Hi everyone, 

We have just pushed live some updates based on all of the feedback we've been getting.  Your input has been crucial in helping us improve the usability and efficiency of our forums. Here’s how we have addressed the key issues you raised:

1. Trending Topics & Solutions: We have listened to your feedback and understand that the “Trending” tab being default was not meeting the needs of some users, especially those that frequently navigate the forums to provide solutions. Therefore, we have made the “All” tab the default view across the community. This change is aimed at enhancing your ability to quickly and efficiently navigate the forums.
2. Pinned Posts: To address the visibility concerns, we have added a title to each pinned post. This aims to make it clearer what this section contains and reduce any confusion about where pinned posts are located. 
3. Read vs Unread Topics: Many of you expressed difficulties in supporting our users without the ability to differentiate between posts that have been read, or not. We have adjusted the design such that read posts will now be un-boldened on a forum board. This change will help you easily differentiate between the posts you have engaged with and those you still need to review.

Overall, we have aimed to improve the issues that you raised as most pressing, with the above 3 topics making up over 40% of the feedback sent to us.

We want to thank you for your continued feedback, which has been instrumental in helping our team understand the problems to overcome. Conducting this A/B test has given us the best possible understanding of the challenges you face, and we are committed to engaging with you on all of your feedback. We encourage you to continue providing your feedback and thoughts on both the changed and unchanged aspects of our community. Whilst we wanted to implement these changes sooner to support your use of community, all other improvements are still being logged and investigated for further changes in the future.

I would like to tag and thank the following users who provided specific feedback on the topics that these improvements focus on. We wanted to ensure that you all saw this post to close the loop with you on the feedback you provided:
@Alfred.NESWADBA @MartinBeh @NachoShaw @Gabriel_Watson @beekeecz @mdavis22569 @RaphaelMichel @jhackney1972 @Chad-Smith@crw001 @jroot @Joe-Bouza @rhesusminus @Jeff_M @a.laasW8M6T @davebYYPCU @gbattinPH5TG @Simon_Weel @andrewiv @andrewdroth @programming2C78B @MRWakefield @karthur1 @WCrihfield @YannickEnrico @Rory_M @mluterman @swalton @Curtis_Waguespack @Schredhammer @TK.421 @neilyj666 @ActivistInvestor @hide-wada (more continued in other post, ran out of my max mentions). 

We will follow up with other users who have provided feedback on other topics as they are investigated further. We encourage continued feedback from you all. 

More details about the Office Hours / more in depth FAQ will be released as soon as I can. 

Thanks,

Amanda

[amanda.k]

(continued user mentions for the improvements pushed live above) @Misean @mat_hijs @Sean571 @Simau @王承之pmhker @neaton @brian.strandberg @thor98_ @timothy_crouse @HideoYamada @scgq425 @David_W_Koch @matt.worland @TerryDotson @rmoore3 @fieldguy @Tom_Kunsman @pkolarik @daniel_cadext @N.H1971 

Thanks,

Amanda

[mluterman]

Excellent! Nice to see Autodesk reacting quickly and thoroughly to their user's concerns. Thanks, Amanda.

[Chad-Smith]

Thank you. Points 1 & 3 help greatly.

I still don't agree with point 2. Pinning suggests that they are still in the board.

My possible suggestions are:

1. Add a new tab for 'Pinned".
2. Or, move the section to the top of the right sidebar so that it is positioned under 'Join the conversation', and while keeping it titled as 'Pinned'.
3. Or, if you are determined to maintain this section in its current position, then label it something difference like 'Announcements'.

[Curtis_Waguespack]

@amanda.k, I think this is good news.

but on Friday when I asked about this you told me:

“…the trending tab will stay as it is until the A/B test has concluded.… As with all improvements, no changes will be implemented until after the A/B test has been completed. Making changes to the design during the test would invalidate all of the data we are receiving. " 

what happened to that??? Are you all just making it up as you go? 🤔 

Happy to see reason prevail concerning the need for incremental feature updates, but the communication on all of this is just so all over the place.  🤨

And at this point someone not @mentioned needs to find this post indicating that incremental updates are now a thing, 6 pages deep in an announcement, on a board that they might not even know exists, to know what is going on. Is that the best way to communicate what is happening with the forum updates?

[MichaelH13]

I refreshed the forum page today and the default view was "All" - great! Not that I disliked Joe's post but it is nice to see the latest ones. 

This is what I see on my 29" monitor.

Wasted space - so much of it. Give me a widescreen option, most people have them.

The options drop-down box is so small it is the first time I have seen it.

Pinned posts - list them all! If they are important enough to be pinned, I do not want to have to click through a slideshow.

Search bar - default needs to be "This Board" not "All Community", as I am already in the Civil3D board, when I search, results from Revit do not apply to me.

The "related tags" box is not relevant on this page.

I think it is a good thing to make live changes based on the feedback, constant fine tuning.