Comments on: Improving support and how we talk about it

By: S M

S M — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 18:13:07 +0000

I have a few suggestions about the look and feel of the “easy-to-understand” table on the main support page.

Firstly, among all comparisons I have seen on various websites that have different tiers of services or licenses, the feature is always the first column on the left, followed by the tiers (with their Yes/No/Comments) to the right. On this page though, they seem to be flipped the other way, with the feature list on the right most column. That looked odd. It may be better to switch this order.

Secondly, the merged cells on features available to both classes look somewhat old style, along with the Yes or No centered on the merged cell but still making the column separator line between Baseline and Subscription stand out shouting “misalignment somewhere”. Of course, it’s easy to figure out what the actual layout is and why it appears this way, but this could also be improved by just repeating the answer for each feature (like “Yes | Yes” or “No | No” – the pipe symbol here stands for the column separator) instead of having merged cells.

Thirdly, equal sized columns for Baseline and Subscription (the feature column can still be a lot wider than these, like it is now).

Lastly, borderless table (with perhaps more vertical spacing between rows if necessary)! 🙂

These changes would make it look better overall.

By: Dieter Donnert

Dieter Donnert — Sun, 17 Aug 2014 13:42:28 +0000

The Forum, the Wiki, and the blog should have tabs at the top, to the right of the support tab where they are easy to find. It is a common UI practice to place these things in the main navigation menu.
They are important to new users looking for answers. New users don’t know their way around the site and are suffering from information overload already. Easy is good.

By: Bumpy Light

Bumpy Light — Sun, 17 Aug 2014 00:38:50 +0000

Aha! I now see the “Forums” link in the FAQ section that you mentioned. A good technician should be observant. I withdraw my minor quibble. ;^^

By: jdw

jdw — Sat, 16 Aug 2014 19:59:50 +0000

In reply to Bumpy Light.

We feel it’s conceptually important to briefly cover why the option for individual private support doesn’t appear on your list of support options before we give you the list of options. The language used is definitely not intended to be “pushy” though, and I’d be interested to know how many people perceive it that way.

Adding a tab for the forum is not something we would do right now. However, there is a (not-very-prominent) link to the forums on https://members.nearlyfreespeech.net/ beneath the list of top FAQ’s. We’ve also been toying with adding another more visible Forums link and possibly a phpMyAdmin link to the “Quick Actions” box in the upper right.

-jdw

By: Bumpy Light

Bumpy Light — Sat, 16 Aug 2014 13:06:09 +0000

I have no quibbles with the two-tier support system as it exists now. It makes perfect sense. I do have a minor quibble with the new way in which it’s presented after clicking on the “support” tab, though. I typically will click on that tab to reach the menu that contains the link to the free support forum. The rewritten page for “support” strikes me as a little pushy in its effort to get someone to pay for support before the option for the forum appears a little further down on the page.

I realize that this effect isn’t intended. I’m a semi-professional writer and also have been deeply interested for many years in user interfaces to computer programs and Web functionality, and it’s frankly difficult to anticipate all possible interpretations by a vast range of readers. Still, if you’d care to do that, I think I wouldn’t be alone in appreciating a direct link in the tab array to the support forum. If you’re concerned about misunderstandings by newer members, you could always add a bit of text to the page for the free support forum that suggests clicking the “support” tab for more in-depth options.

Anyways, your hosting business remains one of the most delightfully logical and technician-friendly websites I’ve had the good fortune to encounter. ^_^

By: Toby Bartels

Toby Bartels — Sat, 16 Aug 2014 05:22:01 +0000

On the page with the table, you say that (because a billing month is always 31 days long) one gets a 9.7% discount every February. Actually, that is only true for 75% of Februaries; the February discount is 6.5% in a leap year.

You are quite correct. 🙂 -jdw

By: jdw

jdw — Sat, 16 Aug 2014 04:50:32 +0000

In reply to Jeremy. If you ever had support points and don't know if you still do, you can check the profile tab. If you have points, that's pretty much the only place they still show up. (Also if the support tab tells you you're a baseline member but suggests that you open a secure issue, you have points. But that's really subtle.) They are cashed out from an account info panel. But, no, they were not used up by the subscription system. In general, support points are still out there unless you have used them up or sold them back. In some cases, support points can also be auto-sold off by the system if it's absolutely necessary to keep your stuff online. But mostly they survive until used. There are a lot still outstanding, and they're quite valuable. Maybe we should allow them to be sold on the secondary market. :) -jdw

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Sat, 16 Aug 2014 04:26:55 +0000

I bought $5 in support points when they first came out; I remember this gave me an immediate subscription when you first made the switch, but they would be “held in escrow” in a sense until I needed support. Now with this new system I don’t see them or have the ability to cash them out anymore, did they disappear or were they used up by my “subscription” when I wasn’t looking?