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Feedback requested on upcoming changes to Dev Gym UI

Hello there, Dev Gym members!

We plan to release a new version of the Dev Gym (19.3 - we are aligning with the overall version schema followed by Oracle Database and sister sites, like Oracle LiveSQL).

Mainly, it is a tweak of the UI, to bring our site in line with developer.oracle.com and also to make better use of our "real estate." Before we apply the changes, though, we'd love to get some feedback from our users.

So when you have a moment or two, please scroll down the page, compare current and 19.3 pages, then let us know what you think.

Thanks very much,
Steven

Home Page

Current Site
A few things to point out:
  • Orange theme
  • Large banner with search bar
Dev Gym 19.3 Home Page

Things to note:
  • Switch to black-grey-red theme (just a little bit of red)
  • Much smaller banner
  • Search bar moved to top of site, independent of page
  • Cleaner display of quizzes (we'd like to think)
Moving on, in the workouts and classes pages, we've reduced the real estate for the banner (no need for another search bar), simplified the formats and also added a data-driven pie indicator of % completion.

Workouts, Current Site

Workouts, Dev Gym 19.3


Things to note:
  • We show % of completion as a piechart for quick reinforcement of progress being made.

Classes, Current Site

Classes, Dev Gym 19.3

Things to note:
  • We show % of completion as a piechart for quick reinforcement of progress being made.

Player Profiles

We've also reorganized and put more content on the profile page.

Current Site
Dev Gym 19.3

Site Search

Finally, we've reorganized separate search results pages into a single site-wide search results page that includes quizzes, workouts and classes together.

Current Site
Dev Gym 19.3
All right, that should do it. We didn't change much in the way of functionality; more of that to come in another upgrade. For now, please let us know what think of the new UI. And of course if there are key features you'd like to see added to the Oracle Dev Gym, happy to hear about those as well
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Comments

  1. Denis SavenkoAugust 9, 2019 at 1:11 AM

    Hi Steven! Nice to see the sites development. A couple of thoughts:
    - I really loved the DevGym logo (with the guy ifting the bar with databases - that is awesome) - what about saving it? Maybe just restyling to grey-white style (by the way haven't found the motivation behind this change in Oracle outlook, though I tried)
    - The big search bar in the middle of the banner was extremely useful (and you demonstrated that many times during AskTOM Office Hours, however that was on LiveSQL, but still, these sites are going to have similar design as far as I can understand that), and the search field at the top feels redundant and not related to the DevGym (or LiveSQL) at all. I am trying to say that when I see a search bar at the top of the site, I think about unefficient search on the whole Oracle site, not that fantastic search amongst DevGym itself
    - I really like cleaner display of quizzes, workouts and classes! Looks like most important information has more space to be shown now - nicely done!
    - I am not sure about the new Player Profile page - the trophy wall used to look like a trophy wall, when your rewards are hanged there and you could watch them and enjoy, and now it's more like Trophey Table, not a wall.

    But.. That's only my point of view. You asked for feedback, I tried my best! Hope it would help!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. StevenFeuersteinAugust 9, 2019 at 8:49 AM

      Thanks for this detailed eval, Denis. Some thoughts back your way....
      - Logo: this will go on the home page just like it is on the "splash page" (when you are not logged in.
      - Search: we will change the text in the field to "Search the Dev Gym...." There is absolutely no loss in functionality for search from before, just better use of real estate
      - Player profile: we may release the site with this page as is, but the plan is to replace the "Recent trophies" with a high level summary of all your trophies, and a link to a new page to see a person's full trophy wall. In the meantime, you can always see YOUR full trophy wall by going to My Dashboard then All Trophies.

      Delete
    2. Denis SavenkoAugust 9, 2019 at 8:56 AM

      Thanks for your answer, Steven.

      So, is there any open resources behind the Oracle look and feel change, which we could read? I would do that with pleasure!

      Delete
    3. StevenFeuersteinAugust 9, 2019 at 8:57 AM

      Apologies, Denis, but I am not sure what you mean by this.

      Delete
    4. Denis SavenkoAugust 9, 2019 at 9:09 AM

      Oracle recently moved from the bright red design to the more calm grey-white one (judging by the website changes). I do not know exactly when it happened, but we see how Oracle resources change their styles little by little.

      So I was interested in the motivation behind these changes - why the company decided to change their colors after all these years of marketing the brand. In example, Red Hat also changed their logo recently - and there is loads of information about that and even an official blog post (https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/announcing-next-evolution-our-red-fedora-mark). But Google didn't help me this time :)

      Delete
    5. StevenFeuersteinAugust 9, 2019 at 10:24 AM

      Ah, no sorry, I have nothing to offer that way. But it's a nice idea.

      Delete
  2. AnonymousAugust 9, 2019 at 1:32 AM

    Personally I think that the new site proposal looks a bit boring in comparison. The pie chart progress and search filters look promising.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. StevenFeuersteinAugust 9, 2019 at 8:49 AM

      Thanks for the brutal feedback. :-)

      We plan to add back the instructor/author image to add a bit more splash to each entry.

      Delete
  3. iudithAugust 11, 2019 at 8:35 AM

    Hello Steven,
    Considering how much I bothered you during many months regarding the quiz search functionality, should I conclude from here that the already customized quiz search pages will all be "swallowed up" in the (single) "Search all" page ?
    I ask this because, as we discussed in much detail, searching for quizzes by their END DATE ( or FROM/TO date range ) is an essential functionality, especially for long time players, of course, *in addition* to all the other filters !

    I like the new list of Trophies ordered as a table, ordered by descending dates !
    In my opinion, any "list type" information for any entity looks better if presented
    as a table, and NOT as a "wall of pictures", which is harder to follow by eye
    when you are looking for specific entries.

    By the way ... does this move from a red-dominated color scheme to a black/grey/white one reflect a "general mood change" in the Oracle world ? :(

    Cheers & Best Regards,
    Iudith

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. StevenFeuersteinAugust 12, 2019 at 1:02 PM

      Iudith, we will make sure you have what you need, when it comes to quiz search!

      Delete
  4. StevenFeuersteinAugust 19, 2019 at 2:47 PM

    Thanks for all your feedback! We are incorporating many of your ideas and may delay the release to make sure we get it all spot on.

    ReplyDelete

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