Timeline for answer to What does the public really need from us? by bobble
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
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| Oct 13, 2025 at 19:54 | history | edited | bobble | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
don't say "primary" https://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/14524?m=66815984#66815984
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| Jan 28, 2025 at 6:06 | comment | added | bobble | Looking through the Web Archive for captures of SO Q&A pages, I like 2015 best. 1) Only one, small popup, which scrolls and doesn't overlap any Q&A content. It's so small that even a small screen can see the Q below. 2) The "tour" and "help" links are labeled as such in the top bar. I didn't realize that SO lost them! To teach search-engine-folks how SO works, give them clear signposts. I didn't repeat the experiment for other sites. Also I ignored color, font, etc. | |
| Jan 28, 2025 at 0:36 | comment | added | Journeyman Geek | I wish I had a better source to this than ancient memory but if someone needs to click more than twice to reach something, they're not going to go there. | |
| Jan 24, 2025 at 9:24 | comment | added | NoDataDumpNoContribution | There are surely many small points that could be more convenient (as a long time user one is sometimes so used to them that they are more hard to notice than for newer users) and making them more convenient would probably go a long way for making this platform more attractive, it might not solve some fundamental problems though like ultimately humans interact here, but of course one can always optimize and clean up and increase focus. | |
| Jan 23, 2025 at 19:24 | comment | added | user400654 | I don't know that the design is necessarly worse than it was in the past, it just... isn't necessarily better... it'd old. dated. set in the past. stuck in it's old ways. Lacks modern features. Tries too hard to get you to participate to the point where it's constantly in the way. | |
| Jan 23, 2025 at 16:45 | comment | added | bobble | That's an excellent summation of my answer: "familiarity, simplicity, speed, and quality" | |
| Jan 23, 2025 at 16:31 | comment | added | Slate StaffMod | But also there's a completely reasonable "what the public really needs" here, too. Correct me if I'm wrong - it's that the public needs us to get information out of experts' heads and into their hands as quickly as possible. Your answer values familiarity, simplicity, speed, and quality. It's actually somewhat more stringent than even a public library - there, you have to do real work to know what you want. We put what you need in your hands at exactly the right time in a way that is familiar and recognizable. Don't want to put words in your mouth, just thinking out loud... | |
| Jan 23, 2025 at 16:29 | comment | added | Slate StaffMod | Yeah, I think anyone who actually undertakes flipping through the Web Archive to find "the best point" is going to have to think hard about how to not just pick the site as it was when they happened to show up. I mean, on the day we all become active users, we gotta like the place, right? Doing it right and approaching it with a neutral eye is really tricky. | |
| Jan 23, 2025 at 16:26 | comment | added | bobble | I'm very busy today but I might be able to look at Web Archive tomorrow. Though note that I came in after a lot of platform changes, so e.g. the "new nav" I just accepted as the state of affairs. | |
| Jan 23, 2025 at 16:26 | comment | added | bobble | I think if I were a new user, my experience would be worse now than when I started. But since I have an account I don't have to deal with e.g. the cookie popup. Though I've actually started avoiding some sites where the Google sign in popup appears, e.g. Ask Ubuntu. (I know I could dismiss it, but popups activate my flight response.) | |
| Jan 23, 2025 at 16:22 | comment | added | Slate StaffMod | And - seriously - I'll accept replies from anyone here. I know it's a pain to do, but anyone who's willing to flip through the Wayback Machine, find a year or page, and explain why they feel it worked best, you'll have my genuine gratitude | |
| Jan 23, 2025 at 16:17 | comment | added | Slate StaffMod | This is an excellent answer, and I hope you (and future respondents) know it's not made any less helpful for being a record and analysis of your personal experience. It sounds a bit like you're saying that the actual experience of using the platform has degraded, and I'm curious to explore that side of it more explicitly. You mention modals, but also gesture at design elements of the network more broadly. I'd be curious, if you look through the Web Archive, if you (or anyone) could point to a time when the design really felt good to you. When was "the best it was"? | |
| Jan 23, 2025 at 15:57 | history | edited | bobble | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
more specific
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| Jan 23, 2025 at 1:05 | history | answered | bobble | CC BY-SA 4.0 |