Help us review a new page design!

I can't say that I like the look of the new design at all. It's very cluttered and disorganized. I don't like giving feedback without providing my own view on how I would do it, so i'll post a mock-up of how I would design it later in the week.

Hi Thor! I only have some impressions for you at this point, so they may not be too helpful...
I understand what you're trying to achieve, but the layout makes the page feel schizophrenic to me! It should be fine/prominent enough if you place all the page descriptors into one margin or the other and just highlight it with color (but I agree with Garret's comment about grey being the wrong color).
On the company participation descriptor I know the wording is not final, but if what you've got there is an indication, they still sound like words put into the company's mouths. I'm afraid there's no squeezing any fun or cuteness into this aspect - you're gonna have to use very unambiguous and therefore very dry/blah wording here.
I agree the alternative support channels need to show prominently here, but you gotta ask - how do they get there in the first place? Is GS going to fill this in (why would you? and you should be "hands-off" due to possible conflict-of-interest). Are the customers going to fill this in? the fact they're in GS means they probably wouldn't know the company's official support channels! Of course the company is the best entity to fill this in (but what if they never show?)
On showing the customers, I really think a count is fine and you don't need to show the pictures. It takes so much space and just forces the eye away from the more important stuff (and what's really important is the count, not how cute that girl/guy in the second row looks).
Oops, that was a lot of impressions!

Hi Thor

I really like a lot of the choices on the new page, especially the variety of links and the company information available to customers. I think it will be more informative and a less jarring transition for our customers new to the GS forum. I think the pictures are actually a good idea--they humanize the space and make it less intimidating for newbies. It also does a better job (better at least from my perspective as your customer lol) of allowing your customer's branding to shine through.

Have you considered making the "recently active topics" a link choice rather than the default page? It would give you more room to work with (to avoid the cluttered feeling mentioned above). I would expect that the "recent topics" is generally of more interest to employees than necessarily customers, who generally enter to get a specific question answered. Yes, it removes the possibility that a top topic might possibly catch somebody's eye and draw them in, but the trade off might be worth it.

I would quibble with the wording "Go here for Official Support" as for some companies, this is a form of official support. How about "Contact Support Directly" instead? And instead of "Ask a Question of Cyberdyne Systems' Customers" (which makes it sound like employees aren't listening), how about "Query the Cyberdyne Community" (OK, OK "Query" might be too queer, but it is more accurate...)

One question: Is there someplace for companies to post or link to their own user guidelines on this new design?

All in all, I'm really glad you are moving this direction!
Cheers,
Pam

Its Awsome! i like it! make the homepage a bit like that, bright, Welcoming, giving information!

UMM ONE DROP WORDPRESS ITS TAKING TO LONG TO ACCESS THIS PAGE YOU LINKED US TOO, AND I CAN SEEM TO REVIEW IT EITHER OFF A 20 MEG CONNECTION TO TRY AND SEE THE SYSTEM.

WE DROPPED WORDPRESS BECAUSE IT WAS ALSO SLOW ON OUR QUID CORE SERVERS. WE USE FLATPRESS OR THE BEST, E-107 CMS SYSTEM

I don't like how far down the add idea, question, problem, praise input box is. I think one of the main joys of GS is the ability to jump right in and add input. When it comes to web design, the most important features should really be up at the top. I think the way the page is now is actually perfect in that respect

Instead of the layout in your screenshot, I would suggest stacking the three modules in the grey bar on the side, where the rating/recommendation box is at the moment. I would suggest from top down: Contact the company, recommendations, photos of users.

I put photos of users last because I think it's unnecessary. When you read the page, you immediately see a representation of active customers through the avatars next to every comment, question, etc. Repeating it through a specific box seems unwarranted, and could give the wrong message: namely that this site is a social networking site like facebook, and that it is trying to prove it already has users. The best representation of a companies customer base is right there at the top of the page in the form of the number of comments/input. That number is much more important to me when I want to know if a company is active, than the pictures of a few of its consumers. Lastly, I feel that the pictures can even prove a bit heavy handed or intimidating, seeming to say 'these customers all enjoy our service, why don't you?' It feels much nicer as a customer to be communicating to [i]one [/i] entity rather than the crowd the pictures seem to represent visually.

On a final, happy note, I love the addition of the participation meter. It's a very nice way of quickly spotting whether or not a company will be able to answer any questions you have

I like your design^_^

I agree with Sam, moving the input box down and putting elements like "Customers on" higher up makes it feel more like a social network than a customer support forum and hence I think it would be a step backwards. I think these are good elements to have, I'd just re-think their positioning and hence importance in the UI. I do like Sam's idea of having them down the side and moving the Input box back up.

Love it!

I understand what you're trying to achieve

Regards
Joseph Letzelter

Much better!

I think the most important change is the prominence of the "This company is [not] participating" status and the "Go here for official support" section.

RP from the blog. Outstanding layout improvements. All the right stuff in all the right visual and functional hierarchy. Anything can be tweaked and improved, but this an excellent step in the right direction. Smart and fair business decision to withhold branded sites (company logo) for non-GS customers. I think the current OpenID sign-in addresses the valid aversion to signing up for yet another account, mentioned by Kit. Looking forward to more GS^2 (Get Satisfaction Good Stuff).

sounds great

Not for me. I know what I want on webpage. 1 Header where I can palce two photos at each side. Name in center. Can edit. Under this 1 column of text.

This Design looks plain i could create better with such anamations!

I'm not mad keen on the way you manually added yourself to my spam filter whitelist just so you could send me your spam. Not tremendously enlightened. I for one will never be coming back. Way to go, marketing dept.

Jonathan