How can I send feedback to the web site designers? This is a horrible design. The "Ask a question" button is not on the Community home page. It is not on the page with the list of "discussions". It is not in the list of categories of discussions under, for example, "Taxes". It is not on a page for a specific question. You can't search for it with the search feature. No, you have to know to drill down to the FOURTH layer of breadcrumbs to find it. How intuitive is that?
Now, here's my "OK, Boomer" complaint. I don't see that the tile layout and images add ANYTHING to the functionality or ease of use of the site. Traditionally designed web forums include a standardized vocabulary:
A "new post" or "question" or "topic"
A "comment" or "answer" or "response" (or "post")
A "thread" or "discussion" that consists of a "new post" or "question" or "topic", together with the "comments", "answers", "responses", and "posts" that are associated with it
A "forum" or "subforum" or "category" or "area" that is a collection of related "threads" or "discussions"
A "community" that includes all of the "forums", with or without other content.
Normally, there is a text list of forums and subforums, either on the home page for the forum/community or on a page that is clearly identified as a list of forums. There may be a list of topics/questions/threads on the same page underneath each forum/subforum/category/area heading, or you may have to click on a specific forum/subforum/category/area to get to a separate page with the list of questions/topics/threads for that forum/subforum/category/area. I have never seen it done the way this forum does, with having to dig down so many layers to finally get to a list of topics where you can actually post a question. And the pages are NOT identified as to what layer of organization they are. What is labeled here as "Discussions" is, in fact, a collection of collections of collections of discussions. And the meaningless pictures and space-wasteful layout make it much harder to see what the organization is.
Furthermore, traditional forums have a "Help" page that is help for using the forum itself. I've usually found those pages to be superfluous, but it would have been really helpful here.
Now that I have finally found an "Ask a question" button and identified the major point of confusion in how this site is organized, I've bookmarked it to make my life easier next time. But, please either forward my feedback to the powers-that-be, or let me know where I can submit it. Thank you.
Rebeccah
