Provide a more consistent user experience across /docs

[dneimke]

Inconsistencies across /docs make it confusing when navigating around and trying find information. As new offers (/answers, /learn) become integrated into the portal, the problem of context and navigation becomes even more difficult due to inconsistent navigation schemes.

Provide Consistent, Contextual Navigation

What is the purpose of the top navigation bar? Currently it changes on pages throughout the Docs website. This is true at both a product level (/xamarin, /system-center, /aspnet, /dotnet) and at a offer level (/, /answers, /learn, ... and others?). It should at least be common enough to transport me across the various realms within Docs (Q+A, Learn, etc.)

How do I get to Q+A from the Home page?

The use of sub-navigation such as breadcrumbs is also inconsistent (/xamarin, /system-center) which makes the context more confusing as you navigate around the site.

Having a common navigation scheme and taxonomy would bring more consistency to the site and make it more navigable. This should make information more findable across offers (e.g. find /answers and /learn about /product). It would also make it easier to navigate from within an area up to a higher level within the /docs or /docs/x realm.

Common Branding

/learn has a theme control that allows me to switch between dark and light mode. This impacts my experience across some offers (/aspnet) but not all (/, /learn).

Streamline the design system to make it more consistent across different levels of information. For example, the landing pages for /xamarin, /aspnet, and /system-center all seem to use a separate layout template and styles for things such as the navigation cards.

Information Taxonomy and UX

The product and technology lists are presented inconsistently across the portal. Make these more consistent in terms of placement and type of navigation element.

• /Docs - Flat Lists - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/
• Microsoft Learn - Product Picker - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/browse/
• Microsoft Answers - Tags and Product Listing - https://docs.microsoft.com/answers/index.html

Not sure if this is an example of taxonomy inconsistency, but I noticed that the Docs page for Azure AD is /azure/active-directory whereas the Q+A path for the Azure AD tag is /topics/azure-active-directory.html

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[dneimke]

Another example I had recently where I had issues with context and navigation...

I found the Administer containers in Azure learning path and started with the first module.

When I finished that module, I wanted to continue on to the next module, however, I had forgotten the name of the learning path and there were no contextual cues to help me find my way back to it.

Update: the new Collections Feature goes a long way to helping to address this specific pain point. Because I can organize my learning into collections and find related modules through the collection.

[Duncanma]

@dneimke for the Learning Path example, when you finished the first module it should have given you a link to the 2nd... and on the module page we do have links to any learning paths that contain it ... but the primary navigation should be at the completion of the module. Great feedback overall, definitely a consistency problem to be worked on. Don't have an immediate solution, but there are a number of changes being worked on to make it better (@jffriend fyi)

[dneimke]

Thanks @DuncanmaMSFT. I wanted to make sure that I put my thoughts somewhere - but yeah, had assumed it would be getting worked on at some level.

Feel free to do whatever makes most sense with this issue

[jffriend]

@dneimke Great feedback. We are actively working on some of the issues you mention, in particular the top nav issue. Hoping we have something to make life easier for you and all the other Docs users soon (he says evasively).

[sadadow]

@dneimke Thanks for this great feedback.

I found the Administer containers in Azure learning path and started with the first module. When I finished that module, I wanted to continue on to the next module, however, I had forgotten the name of the learning path and there were no contextual cues to help me find my way back to it.

This is something that we have been hearing from multiple users and as Duncan and Joe mentioned, we are looking at ways to prioritize and resolve it.