Connect has taken a solid step forward to simplify the user experience with some big updates to the interface as well as some structural changes under the hood. When Connect started it was broken up into "Communities" like Managing Mobility, Endpoint Visualization, and Endpoint Management that served as large overarching categories for product content. User feedback showed that many times a user doesn't know what "Community" to post their forum discussions in which can lead to cross posting and a lot of unneeded confusion when trying to interact with Connect.
Product List Pages
This has lead to us to rethink where and how content is added to the site. We have removed the larger "Community" categories and replaced them with the new flatter "Browse By Product Name" smart navigation. This now allows you to simply click the "Browse By Product Name" menu and start typing the name of the product you are interested in and then select the product from the results. This will take you to the product's list page where all the content from the entire Connect site (that's associated with this product) is pulled into a filterable and sort-able list. If you aren't sure what product you are looking for you can click the "Browse By Product Name" and then click "View all products A-Z" to see a complete list of product pages on Connect.
Product List Pages allow you to:
- quickly see all the content activity related to your product
- filter by content type like Forum Discussions, Articles, Ideas, Downloads, Videos, Blog Posts, and Events
- filter by additional facets like groups, authors, language, blogs, and more
- sort by date, author, and last activity
This animation illustrates how the new UI works.
Create New Content
To create new content you 1) navigate to the appropriate product page. Then you you simply 2) click "Post New" (once you are logged in) and select the type of post you would like to make from the drop down list. You are then presented with a simplified content creation form that automatically tags your post with the product you had previously selected. An example is shown in the animation below:
No Content, No Worries
We have also updated the list of available products on Connect which means there are new product pages in the site that have no community content. Please don't let this concern you as we have our Trusted Advisers and Community Managers actively monitoring the site to keep content and interactions flowing.