If you have been on GovLoop recently (or even if you haven’t), you have probably noticed a few changes around the site. We appreciated your patience as we rolled out the seven new community pages last week, but the fun doesn’t end there!
In addition to the launch of the newly focused GovLoop community pages, we have done a bit of sprucing up around the homepage to not only reflect the new additions, but to also increase the overall readability and organization of the site. As many from the community have expressed in the past, the previous homepage had a tendency to be a bit overwhelming for the uninitiated.
With that in mind, we set out to solve this issue, as well as a few others, with the help of the amazingly talented folks at Forum One. While it may not be the most dramatic redesign in internet history, these new changes really add up to bring a much more enjoyable and user-friendly GovLoop experience, and we’re very excited to announce them to you today.
Whether you’re a new or experienced user, let’s take a quick tour of some of the improvements:
1) Navigation
- Streamlined the main navigation to better reflect the content and resources that GovLoop has to offer (blogs, discussions, GovGigs, resources, etc).
- Many of the navigation dropdowns have been cleaned up, and a “Communities” tab was included to reflect the important, new addition.
- Expanded the navigation in the upper right of the page.
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- In addition to the “About Us” tab, it is here that you will find everything on GovLoop that is associated with your profile. You can find and network with other members through the members tab, view all of the groups available for you to join, and even add or rsvp to events– all from this part of the page. Much like many other sites around the web which you may be familiar with, it is also from here that you will be able to access your individual profile page, by clicking on your name, once you have signed in.
2) Communities
- In addition to its inclusion in the main navigation, you will also be able to access the seven community pages directly from the homepage itself, along with some eye-catching iconography to accompany them.
3) Main Body
- Brand new, tabular navigation for browsing all of the latest and hottest content on GovLoop.
- From here, you can check out the daily top 10 pieces of content (determined by popularity), the latest activity feed from users engaging around the site in real time, all featured blogs, followed by all featured discussions.
4) Other Featured Content
- We made sure to make plenty of space immediately on the homepage in the two side columns for the most important content on GovLoop.
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- The members page, the groups page, and the GovLoop weekly podcast with Chris Dorobek in the left column, and then a variety of recent guides, infographics, and other resources will be featured in the right on a regular basis.
5) Footer
- It’s here that you will find all pertinent information regarding GovLoop’s organization and rules, including how to get a hold of us, and the FAQ’s.
- You’ll also find quick links again to the community pages and individual resource pages.
- We’ve also included some useful links for you to connect with us through a few social media channels, as well as download our app.
We hope you enjoy the new and improved GovLoop homepage as much as we do, and encourage you to let us know what you think! We’re here to serve you- the public servant. This redesign kicks off 2012 in style and truly is a direct result of feedback that we have received from members, so thank you! We’re always eager to hear your comments and suggestions. This launch today is hopefully just the start in continually developing GovLoop to provide the best, most efficient collaborative space on the web for people like you!
What do you think? What types of features and/or changes you would like to see in future iterations of GovLoop? Feel free to let us know here in this post, and if you happen upon any bugs, just let us know in this open thread over on the discussion board.
Thanks for the tips! Looking forward to checking out things in the new spaces.
Hi the improvements are great. And the explanation might be even better. Impressive. Thanks for this website. I like the Introductions alot.
What’s the quickest and easiest way to access the groups you belong to? There’s no longer a link on the main page.
Hey Tricia – On the top navigation, just hit your name which should go to your page and then hit groups there
Is that something you did frequently navigation-wise?
@ Steve – I fairly frequently did use the feature. I mainly found it handy and used it for posting information to the groups I facilitate, and sometimes to browse around my groups that I’m a member of to see what’s new.
@Tricia, @GovLoo- Here’s what might be a quicker option: just click the “view all groups” link from the homepage, or the groups tab in the profile navigation. Once you’re on that main groups page, just above the “Featured Groups” title there are 2 links for “All Groups” and “My Groups”. It’s actually been the way I’ve accessed the list of my groups even since before the recent fixes. It’s also a standard ning piece of functionality so it’ll always be there. Hope that helps!