dan-padgett
commented
2 months ago Since a filer could get to the archive from the current filing instructions guide, what's the use case for linking directly to the archive?
Open natalia-fitzgerald opened 2 months ago
dan-padgett
commented
2 months ago Since a filer could get to the archive from the current filing instructions guide, what's the use case for linking directly to the archive?
natalia-fitzgerald
commented
2 months ago @dan-padgett
Since a filer could get to the archive from the current filing instructions guide, what's the use case for linking directly to the archive?
You can't get to the archive from the link that is currently included on the page. The link on the page takes you directly to the Filing instructions guide for data collected in 2025: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/data-research/small-business-lending/filing-instructions-guide/2025-guide/
If the URL instead took a user to one page up from there you would get the link to the latest version and the archive on the same page: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/data-research/small-business-lending/filing-instructions-guide/ If we were to send users to that top level page I would think we would want to make the Filing instructions guide for data collected in 2025 a lot more prominent.
Here's an easy one that could reduce the weight of that section: Is there a compelling reason we need to link here: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/data-research/small-business-lending/small-business-lending-data-updates/?
I think that from a broader perspective we should start thinking about what the purpose of this section is. I would argue that this section should include the most important resources for filers. Can we define those?
In the meantime, perhaps we can move forward with some of the text updates I suggested to make the links more concise?
dan-padgett
commented
2 months ago You can't get to the archive from the link that is currently included on the page.
You can, it's just not obvious with the breadcrumb language. Clicking the last link in the breadcrumb (in the red box in the screenshot) takes you to the archive page.
But that again just brings up the question of why someone would be looking for the archive. I'm not necessarily advocating for removing the link to the archive, but it seems like a good candidate.
natalia-fitzgerald
commented
1 month ago @dan-padgett In terms of the use case, accessing the archive is the primary use case or even the secondary use case. So I would think that removing the link from the database page would be ok.
In terms of the links to the filing instructions guide the priority for a user would be:
This is the language on the page that is linked to from the breadcrumb: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/data-research/small-business-lending/filing-instructions-guide
View previous versions Previous versions of the guide no longer apply to data being collected, but may still be the basis for resubmitting data from a previous filing period. When previous versions are available, they will be linked here.
View archived versions Archived versions of the guide no longer apply to any data that is eligible for resubmission, and are provided for reference only.
I don't think that depending on a breadcrumb that doesn't even give a user any glimpse into what they will find on a page (current version, previous versions, archived versions) is a real path for a user. If we see this path as important we have to present it more proactively. So either we send them to this parent to begin with, which does have drawbacks in that it makes the primary path less direct. Or we rethink the link on the database page to better reflect why we're sending them there (is it for previous versions that are still relevant for resubmission?).
natalia-fitzgerald
commented
1 month ago @angelcardoz While we figure out we continue to talk through what links should be included in this section would you be open to an initial adjustment of the link text to make it more plain language and helpful to a user:
Before:
After:
I can add this to the draft that's set to release next week if it looks good to you. Then we can handle the other questions separately (for a later release).
dan-padgett
commented
1 month ago I like the "After" version @natalia-fitzgerald and have one suggestion: change "Archive of filing instructions guides" to "Filing instructions guides archive" for better readability.
natalia-fitzgerald
commented
1 month ago Moving this from the main post on this issue to here (to keep the user story format for the first post):
If we decide that all of these links are the ones we wish to include on this page, I have some suggestions on how we can make the link text more concise and consistent with the locations where the user will find themselves if they decide to follow them.
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