2 Complaints about the new Dashboard

[Anonymou(S)]

Hey Ning Network Creators:

You've probably noticed that at the navigation bar on your Ning network, it says "My Network" instead of the old "Manage." I have 2 problems with this page, and here they are:

1) It looked better when it said "Manage" and not "My Network." It looked a lot better when it just said "Manage."

2) The new "Dashboard" is extremely hard to navigate through! It was SOOOOOOO much better when they had those little icons on the different rows! Now you have to go through different lists to try to find an item.

Why did they have to mess our Ning networks up? First: they made us pay for this stuff, and Second: it's not even good (with few exceptions.) Please reply to this post if you agree with me.

[Thomas Hoey]

I am OK with it. No sense sweating the small details. The icons WERE better but as features or items are added it would have gotten pretty confusing for newbies. Now, I do have issues about other things....but thats for another thread.

[Jen]

I'm working on a French language site. The icons made it very easy for me to edit and navigate. Now, oh my, my brain is hurting.
;-)

[Junaid Basir]

Hi Samuel,

Like any new user interface this will require some getting used to. The old manage page was intended for a much smaller feature set with a bunch of static links on the main page. Such a page is very hard, if not impossible to scale. Additionally new users and anyone not visiting the page regularly, found it very unintuitive.

The new interface is designed to be extensible and interactive so it will work as we continue to add new features and provide useful data relevant to your network. Obviously this was a complex decision and we explored maintaining the old manage page, but it would have clashed with the goal to make the network creator's experience more information driven and manageable as features are added.

We really appreciate as you explore and learn the new interface. We will continue to make it easier to use and more interactive (the charts and data you see on dashboard are a start).

[Jen]

Hi Junaid,
I can't imagine that you think the new is more intuitive than the old. As far as scalability, I hear you on that one.
Best Regards,
Jen

[Garfield Creator]

To me it's like an attempt model it after the wordpress control panel but without the web 2.0 feel and Ajax quality. Just thin, small text links.

[Jen]

Agree,
Jen

[Rhonda]

I worked on my CafePress shop for hours this weekend and now it is gone! I cannot find the application icons on this new Dashboard, can anyone please tell me where to find this? I really need to get the CafePress shop back online. Thanks

[Junaid Basir]

HI Rhonda, On the dashboard click Settings link on the left hand side. From the sub-option select "Features Layout" or "Tabs" depending on which cafe press option you would like to tweak.

[Rhonda]

Hi Junaid, thanks so much for your help!!

[Lora]

agree... the icons we so easy to use.... I miss it already...

[Jen]

I'm done whining about this. ;-) Ning, I feel sure there is no turning back on this, especially after reading Junaid's comments. But gotta say one last time, in my opinion this was not the best decision you've ever made.

Don't get me wrong. I certainly appreciate all your efforts and hard work. But I think you all know me well enough to know, I will be upfront on how I feel about something, within reason.
;-)
Best to you all,
Jen

[The PL Team (d&e)]

10 steps forward on scalability, 10 steps back on usability. The key is to find the middle point and tweak from there.

Don't get me wrong, i love not having to click BACK every time I want to dive into another control panel, but there must be a cleaner more intuitive way to implement a dashboard. Look at web hosting control panels as inspiration.

Excited to see future refinements.

e