Homeowner · Baton Rouge, LA · Member since 2013 · 6 posts · 0 votes
12y
I like the layout of the new site. Much cleaner and easier to navigate. I have not run into any bugs or issue yet. It is good to see the evolution and expansion of the site.
Wholesaler · Arlington, TX · Member since 2013 · 59 posts · 29 votes
12y
I'm having some trouble with the search function on the new site. It seems its not searching the actual forums very much. I typed in "seo" which gave me plenty of bigger pockets blog posts but 0 for forum posts.
Flipper/Rehabber · Arlington, TX · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 2k+ votes
12y
I recognize the HUGE effort involved in a new site, and I realize you (BP) are doing this for US, so please know that I appreciate the hard word and dedication to serving our community with this site. I don't mean to be a downer here, but merely offer some critical thoughts about the new design (I've done a few sites in my time...).
The new site has more "white space" in many sections which at times feels inefficient compared to the old site. There are some functions or features that I still haven't found... I feel like I need some TRAINING on this new site (like a video or webinar), whereas the old site seemed to be more intuitive.
I suppose I am getting more averse to change as I get older. =) I like the new site - it's OK - but I'm not seeing what the BENEFITS are of the new site over the old one. What can I now do better, faster. cheaper to offset my learning curve of figuring out the new site? What was broken in the old design that is fixed in the new one? I'm not sure YET. Perhaps this will all become obvious with more time spent in the new design.
I recognize the HUGE effort involved in a new site, and I realize you (BP) are doing this for US, so please know that I appreciate the hard word and dedication to serving our community with this site. I don't mean to be a downer here, but merely offer some critical thoughts about the new design (I've done a few sites in my time...).
The new site has more "white space" in many sections which at times feels inefficient compared to the old site. There are some functions or features that I still haven't found... I feel like I need some TRAINING on this new site (like a video or webinar), whereas the old site seemed to be more intuitive.
I suppose I am getting more averse to change as I get older. =) I like the new site - it's OK - but I'm not seeing what the BENEFITS are of the new site over the old one. What can I now do better, faster. cheaper to offset my learning curve of figuring out the new site? What was broken in the old design that is fixed in the new one? I'm not sure YET. Perhaps this will all become obvious with more time spent in the new design.
Thanks Dev for the Feedback, and yes, all constructive criticism is welcome!
So, perhaps the largest reason we made the change was simply to bring the design up to modern standards (versus a 2003 standard, as before.) Study after study shows sites with more modern design tend to grow better, achieve more press, and allow people to use it longer. So that was a big deal for us. The white space- there is definitely more, which we may be filling in more in the coming days with some more ads (that's why it might look a little too-white spacy right now.)
Finally, yes, the site will take some getting used to for those who are accustomed to the old site, but I think the new design will be SO much more intuitive for those who had never seen the old site. We're going to be continually tracking, testing, and tweaking the functionality as we go along also, to see what works the best for folks, so you'll likely see more changes coming.
Also- just a few things that work better now for building your biz:
- BiggerPockets.com/meet
- The Dashboard (BiggerPockets.com/dashboard) has more items that can be accessed, such as the ability to listen to the podcast directly from there (try it out!) and the Post Score section with the leaderboard allows people to see their influence, and the "Recommendations" has been revamped to allow people to brag about themselves a little better.
- The Navigation Bar, now on top, is much better organized for easy retrieval of things, especially under the "learn" and "network" tabs.
Those are just a few things! But yes, I have more training coming soon. I think you'll find the more you play around with this site, the more you'll realize how out-of-date, slow, and complicated the old version was. When I go back to that one, now that I've been on this for a few weeks, I shudder!