Community Redesign - Phase 2

[Melissa_Potvin]

Community Members, I'd like to introduce you to our brand new Qlik Community!  We hope you love it as much as we do!   This article will tell you everything you need to know about what has changed. 

First, let me provide some backdrop:

A month ago we kicked off our Community redesign efforts when we launched new banners sitewide and new promo cards addressing some of the inside components of our community.   The design concept was born with the launch of Qlik Gallery and was later streamlined into many Qlik Community 2020 social campaigns:

This is one example of a new banner image:

You can read about the all changes that deployed last month here. 

Today, you will notice even more changes:

#1.  A newly redesigned home page
Meant to deliver a brand new look and feel, more modern in design yet playful and fun!  When we launched to our new platform over 2 years ago we were 58K members strong. Today, we have 115K+ members and growing every single day.  It was time for a change!  Recreating the home page banner was no easy feat as we wanted it to convey the beautiful and magnificent spirit of all of you!  We'd like to thank Qlik's Creative and Brand services team for their creativity and dedication to this massive undertaking!  ( it was 10+ revisions - no joke ).

   

It's pretty amazing when you look at the change side-by-side:

On the new home page you will notice new imagery throughout and also a refreshed use of icons:

From Left to Right
(a) Discussion     (b) Document    (c) Support-Authored Knowledge Article     (d) Idea

#2. Brand New Top Level Navigation 
We have completed our shift to a Top Level Navigation. YAHOO!  There are multiple tiers to the navigation structure ranging from 1 to 4 tiers. The hamburger menu will remain for our mobile device and tablet users. 

example of 2 Tiers:

example of 3 Tiers:

example of hamburger menu, with newly created icons, for our phone and tablet users. 

We have also updated the Top Level Utility Bar by improving placement of the icons, and while we were at it we aligned those icons to match what you see on Qlik.com.

To get to your community settings select the little green arrow that sits next to your avatar.

 

One of our favorite new additions is the "Ask a Question" button.  Meant for members that need to get a question answered and fast - we made it easier for you to do just that.   This will be especially useful for newbies to our community who haven't figured out how to navigate to specific forums.   YES!

3.  Improvements to Search
Incredibly excited to share with you that we now have Unified Search available to our members.  Double YES!
Already in place today on our Qlik Support Portal, you will now have a consistent search experience across these two platforms.  In case you prefer the old and familiar you can revert back to Classic Community Search at any time. 
(and yes, we are discussing bringing Unified Search to other Qlik platforms as well - but I can't make any promises). 

On behalf  of the Qlik Community Team we want to thank you for taking this journey with us and embracing change.  To report any functional issues with the new design please go here --> https://community.qlik.com/t5/Getting-Started-and-How-To-s/January-2021-Redesign-Issue-Tracking-Post...

We hope that you enjoy your new space.  See you online!

Melissa and Sue

PS. What's coming next on Qlik Community:

1. UI improvements for Blogs 
2. New forum for Application Automation
3. Forum Consolidation - with focus on Qlik Sense and QlikView forums
4. New Program for Community MVPs
5. Top Secret new program.  Stay tuned for the one thing I can share - the name -  'Qlik Greenway' !   

[barnabyd]

Thanks @Melissa_Potvin,

I agree with @tresesco on the first image as I didn't even see the search box the first time I looked at that page.

The "Ask a Question" button is great and really pops.

The new menu system does the job as well as any - the old one was fine too. It's all about how easy it is to find things and not about how it looks!

One question - is there a place to post an article to start a discussion - rather than ask a question? I've been posting my articles on LinkedIn but I feel they should be somewhere on this site.

Thanks,

Barnaby.

[barnabyd]

Actually, I've changed my mind on this style of menus. They are a pain to use! For example, navigating from the top level 'Forums' to the 2nd level 'Groups' requires two mouse movements (down and across) where as a simple drop-down menu only requires one mouse movement. Also, the second mouse movement must be done very carefully - if you stray too far up or down, the menu disappears and you have to start again!

I have seen many web pages use this style of menus and they look great but the usability is lower than a simpler drop-down style.

Thanks for the opportunity to add comments.

Cheers,

Barnaby.

[Tyler_Waterfall]

Thanks for the update.

But, the age-old question of "How can I find my favorite posts?" is still here for me... Where do I find them?

Thanks!

[Or]

Since it seems the extra-loud banner full of things that look like buttons I should be pressing is here to stay, I used AdBlock to make it disappear. This looks so much better (and so much more in like with Qlik's overall design)... 😊