We released the first pass of the mega menu yesterday and (thankfully as always) received a huge amount of feedback from multiple sources. At a very high level, we can summarize the feedback like so:
On Track
We've certainly eliminated the frustrating issue where fans kept having their mouse movements "slip off" the cascading menus.
We have accomplished the goal of simplifying the navigation structure to set us up for all the new things that we'll need to incorporate this year and going forward.
We have checked the box for improving the visual appeal of the navigation (the many "omg it's so pretty" comments are appreciated).
Needs Work
The Sources menu needs some love. Even the strong positive responses cite issues with the covers, the carousel, scrolling/clicking, and so on. Especially two years from now, space will be an issue since so many products are being released, but either way, in the short term, there needs to be a better way to find all sources easier.
We simplified too much in some of the dense areas - while our data shows us that most users only click the "top level," there are several users out there (particularly power users) that appreciated the second level. Ex. Classes > Barbarian, Bard, Cleric... instead of just Classes.
Many of you were used to My Content being leftmost on the nav, so it's foreign to click Creations over to the right.
Some images don't "follow" with their menu item closely enough (I actually believed this myself as we were releasing, but I decided to hold my tongue to see if others felt the same).
Next Iteration
Given the above, we are revisiting some concepts we had earlier in development that we think will get us into the "magic middle" to make the mega menu sing for as much of the community as possible.
List View
With the feedback about accessing "second level" elements and sources more effectively, we're going to introduce a new type of view for the mega menu. We'll continue to have the "grid" view that you see now for many of the menu items (and many sections won't change from that), but more dense items like Sources, Game Rules, and Creations will move to a "list" view. Here's a rough sample (not final, pay no attention to accuracy):
This should address the bulk of the feedback we've received.
We will also update images to match the menu element and put Creations back leftmost. :)
Thanks again for the feedback and for helping us get in place what the community needs!
I'm really not a fan of this new UI, its a huge step backwards in UX. My mouse has to travel far more to do the same work. I really liked the expanding menus they worked really well. The new stuff feels like going from windows 7 to the App mode UI of windows 8.
edit: I see some changes are planned. I'll be crossing my fingers :).
Is it expected that the menus simply don’t display at all on an iPad? Hover obviously isn’t a thing on an iPad, but at some point the menus did display but now I can’t get them to show up at all.
I am a big fan of the new look of the menus, as the drop-downs were getting bigger and bigger or had more and more submenus I had previously struggled to access the information I wanted. For example, due to the smaller resolution of my laptop, I had previously faced an issue with "Wizard" being cut-off of the class drop-downs. The new UI looks great, and I've so far not experienced any part where I am unable to click something because it goes off of the screen.
I really enjoy the list view shown here. I love the carousel visually, but on my laptop I was having a lot of struggles with it. The mock-up shown here really seems to nail the functionality, even if it gives up some of the beauty of the carousel. My main issue with the carousel is more how it interacts with the track-pad, so if that was fixed I would love the carousel. Of course, I have seen others with differing issues better serviced by the list view-- So I imagine that the popular (or vocal) demand may prefer the list view.
Is it expected that the menus simply don’t display at all on an iPad? Hover obviously isn’t a thing on an iPad, but at some point the menus did display but now I can’t get them to show up at all.
No work has been done on tablet/mobile yet. It's coming.
I appreciate this update and taking on board the feedback. The proposed look for the Content tab looks better. Can I request that these get ordered alphabetically?
That looks great! Grid/multiple columns seems like the best choice.
I realize that hiding the content one hasn't bought might not be something the company want, since you're in the buissness of selling content. But maybe change the color of the compendiums that's not purchased? Dim the titles a bit? Could maybe drive more purchases, like you want to "collect" all titles :-)
That looks great! Grid/multiple columns seems like the best choice.
I realize that hiding the content one hasn't bought might not be something the company want, since you're in the buissness of selling content. But maybe change the color of the compendiums that's not purchased? Dim the titles a bit? Could maybe drive more purchases, like you want to "collect" all titles :-)
It's more likely that we would allow you to "star" or "pin" what you want to see to the top of the list in the future.
We'll continue to iterate and improve over time - thanks!
I'm really not a fan of this new UI, its a huge step backwards in UX. My mouse has to travel far more to do the same work. I really liked the expanding menus they worked really well. The new stuff feels like going from windows 7 to the App mode UI of windows 8.
Now I am thinking I don't even use start menu anymore on windows 10. Both on windows and ubuntu I just pop the menu and type whatever I want to open. Maybe this is an option for desktop or even tablet users.
This way the options could be more granulated, like "druid spells", or specific class page again.
Not gonna lie, I'm digging the list view. The only thing I'd add was an option in the profile or something to potentially alphabetize it instead of what looks like time sort it.
I think this looks like a good start towards a middle ground - definitely appreciative of adding that extra menu layer back in! And I really like the pins/quickstart possibility - maybe that would be an additional main menu, or a combo? So you could pin the PHB and Volo's on the Source tab, but you could also have a quickstart menu where you've pinned your characters, your homebrew, druid spells, and monsters.
With the feedback about accessing "second level" elements and sources more effectively, we're going to introduce a new type of view for the mega menu. We'll continue to have the "grid" view that you see now for many of the menu items (and many sections won't change from that), but more dense items like Sources, Game Rules, and Creations will move to a "list" view. Here's a rough sample (not final, pay no attention to accuracy):
I don't even need to have used this List View to know that, without a doubt, I am in love with it.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
The list view would work much better for me than the current carousel. Glad to see there's already a plan in place (I realize it's still a WIP). I love the idea of being able to pin stuff. Thanks for listening to feedback!
The style of the list view is pretty much what I had in mind in the other thread. A more compact view to get a good overview at a glance and move on. Still looks nice with the much smaller thumbnails. Looking forward to similar ideas taking shape for things like the mentioned classes etc. Good job.
Quick question/comment: On the "Creations" tab, why does there need to be a separate Homebrew Creations and Homebrew Collection panels?
Maybe I can't tell the different because I don't use anything Homebrew and so both of the empty pages look the same to me. Just seems like something that could be consolidated.
Given the above, we are revisiting some concepts we had earlier in development that we think will get us into the "magic middle" to make the mega menu sing for as much of the community as possible.
List View
With the feedback about accessing "second level" elements and sources more effectively, we're going to introduce a new type of view for the mega menu. We'll continue to have the "grid" view that you see now for many of the menu items (and many sections won't change from that), but more dense items like Sources, Game Rules, and Creations will move to a "list" view. Here's a rough sample (not final, pay no attention to accuracy):
This should address the bulk of the feedback we've received.
We will also update images to match the menu element and put Creations back leftmost. :)
Thanks again for the feedback and for helping us get in place what the community needs!
Yes, yes, yes. Implement this and I will have no complaints with the new layout. Thanks for taking quick action to feedback. Glad to see my monthly sub is going to a team that listens!
Hello everyone!
We released the first pass of the mega menu yesterday and (thankfully as always) received a huge amount of feedback from multiple sources. At a very high level, we can summarize the feedback like so:
On Track
Needs Work
Next Iteration
Given the above, we are revisiting some concepts we had earlier in development that we think will get us into the "magic middle" to make the mega menu sing for as much of the community as possible.
List View
With the feedback about accessing "second level" elements and sources more effectively, we're going to introduce a new type of view for the mega menu. We'll continue to have the "grid" view that you see now for many of the menu items (and many sections won't change from that), but more dense items like Sources, Game Rules, and Creations will move to a "list" view. Here's a rough sample (not final, pay no attention to accuracy):
This should address the bulk of the feedback we've received.
We will also update images to match the menu element and put Creations back leftmost. :)
Thanks again for the feedback and for helping us get in place what the community needs!
This looks great, thanks Adam!
I'm really not a fan of this new UI, its a huge step backwards in UX. My mouse has to travel far more to do the same work. I really liked the expanding menus they worked really well. The new stuff feels like going from windows 7 to the App mode UI of windows 8.
edit: I see some changes are planned. I'll be crossing my fingers :).
Is it expected that the menus simply don’t display at all on an iPad? Hover obviously isn’t a thing on an iPad, but at some point the menus did display but now I can’t get them to show up at all.
I am a big fan of the new look of the menus, as the drop-downs were getting bigger and bigger or had more and more submenus I had previously struggled to access the information I wanted. For example, due to the smaller resolution of my laptop, I had previously faced an issue with "Wizard" being cut-off of the class drop-downs. The new UI looks great, and I've so far not experienced any part where I am unable to click something because it goes off of the screen.
I really enjoy the list view shown here. I love the carousel visually, but on my laptop I was having a lot of struggles with it. The mock-up shown here really seems to nail the functionality, even if it gives up some of the beauty of the carousel. My main issue with the carousel is more how it interacts with the track-pad, so if that was fixed I would love the carousel. Of course, I have seen others with differing issues better serviced by the list view-- So I imagine that the popular (or vocal) demand may prefer the list view.
No work has been done on tablet/mobile yet. It's coming.
I appreciate this update and taking on board the feedback. The proposed look for the Content tab looks better. Can I request that these get ordered alphabetically?
That looks great! Grid/multiple columns seems like the best choice.
I realize that hiding the content one hasn't bought might not be something the company want, since you're in the buissness of selling content. But maybe change the color of the compendiums that's not purchased? Dim the titles a bit? Could maybe drive more purchases, like you want to "collect" all titles :-)
Page Reference: Core Rules to DDB
Page Reference: DDB to PHB
Page Reference: DDB to DMG
Page Reference: DDB to MM
It's more likely that we would allow you to "star" or "pin" what you want to see to the top of the list in the future.
We'll continue to iterate and improve over time - thanks!
Now I am thinking I don't even use start menu anymore on windows 10. Both on windows and ubuntu I just pop the menu and type whatever I want to open. Maybe this is an option for desktop or even tablet users.
This way the options could be more granulated, like "druid spells", or specific class page again.
And I cast Heroism on the community.
Not gonna lie, I'm digging the list view. The only thing I'd add was an option in the profile or something to potentially alphabetize it instead of what looks like time sort it.
I think this looks like a good start towards a middle ground - definitely appreciative of adding that extra menu layer back in! And I really like the pins/quickstart possibility - maybe that would be an additional main menu, or a combo? So you could pin the PHB and Volo's on the Source tab, but you could also have a quickstart menu where you've pinned your characters, your homebrew, druid spells, and monsters.
Birgit | Shifter | Sorcerer | Dragonlords
Shayone | Hobgoblin | Sorcerer | Netherdeep
I don't even need to have used this List View to know that, without a doubt, I am in love with it.
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
― Oscar Wilde.
I definitely prefer the List View over the current view.
All the changes look great. Change the sources to the list view you previewed and it would be even better.
The list view would work much better for me than the current carousel. Glad to see there's already a plan in place (I realize it's still a WIP). I love the idea of being able to pin stuff. Thanks for listening to feedback!
Trying to Decide if DDB is for you? A few helpful threads: A Buyer's Guide to DDB; What I/We Bought and Why; How some DMs use DDB; A Newer Thread on Using DDB to Play
Helpful threads on other topics: Homebrew FAQ by IamSposta; Accessing Content by ConalTheGreat;
Check your entitlements here. | Support Ticket LInk
The style of the list view is pretty much what I had in mind in the other thread. A more compact view to get a good overview at a glance and move on. Still looks nice with the much smaller thumbnails. Looking forward to similar ideas taking shape for things like the mentioned classes etc. Good job.
Quick question/comment: On the "Creations" tab, why does there need to be a separate Homebrew Creations and Homebrew Collection panels?
Maybe I can't tell the different because I don't use anything Homebrew and so both of the empty pages look the same to me. Just seems like something that could be consolidated.
Yes, yes, yes. Implement this and I will have no complaints with the new layout. Thanks for taking quick action to feedback. Glad to see my monthly sub is going to a team that listens!
Cheers!
I like the new layout, but the revised version posted above is an even better improvement. Fantastic work!