What DealerRefresh features are most important to you?

[Alex Snyder]

Jeff and I are looking at some newer technologies for DealerRefresh. It is probably going to lead to a full site redesign. Before we commit to the work, we'd like to hear what's important to you... we have a good idea, but want to be sure.

Some things we'd like to hear about:

• The home page highlighted articles (blog)
• The forum top that shows all the recent activity
• Search - how useful do you find it?
• Seeing other people's profiles and updates

What other DealerRefresh functions do you like?

 

[Ryan Everson]

• The forum top that shows all the recent activity

^ this is the most important feature for me by far. Personally, I never even scroll past this section or visit the individual forum categories.

Implementing some sort of 2-factor SMS OTP code to sign up and post would be a great way to cut down on forum spam too.

 

[craigh]

^ this is the most important feature for me by far. Personally, I never even scroll past this section or visit the individual forum categories.

Agreed on this one. I use the Recent Posts feature more than anything.
I don't visit profiles or view personal content.

Search is OK, but content tagging and grouping could be beneficial (similar threads to the one you're reading).

 

[Karen Ann]

1000% agree!

• The forum top that shows all the recent activity

 

[Tallcool1]

Forums for sure. I do occasionally scroll past the Recent Activity section especially if I am looking for something specific.

The search function is something that I use. Usually my search criteria is much too broad to produce a targeted result, but I generally figure it out.

I would be interested in knowing the features that you are looking at adding. I may be able to give you better input if I had an idea there.

 

[Alex Snyder]

Thanks to everyone who has posted thus far - you have confirmed what we thought we knew. That is super helpful before making a big move!

We are looking to install some updated Xenforo plugins that work better together. This is what led to making the move I'm referring to. The "Latest Replies" stuff at the top of the forums that we all love has not been supported in years. It is a shame because it is a gem. We have no idea many how more updates we can do to the forums, blog, and ad server before something breaks because of it. It has already broken the poll component of Xenforo.

A possible UI change that could solve much of this is to move to a different version of the "Latest Replies" that would serve as the home page, like this: https://gaming.audent.io/community/aud-feeds/latest-activity?display_style=expanded

 

[Jeff Kershner]

Yes! many confirmations and THANKS to all of you that have participated thus far. Very Helpful!!

As most of you pointed out - the "recent activity" is my personal most used feature but it's been a challenge here lately since the service/programmer are no longer supporting it for whatever reason. But we think we've found a slicker and more efficient replacement.

As Alex stated - we have some exciting UI changes and new features headed our way. Really though - major upgrades and changes like this scare the out of me because no matter how many of us use the same popular features, no one uses them in the exact same manor. We all tend to have our own process and steps for achieving the same outcomes and involvement.

I would be interested in knowing the features that you are looking at adding. I may be able to give you better input if I had an idea there.

@Tallcool1 for example: we currently have an Awards/Achievements feature that gets overlooked due to its cumbersome UI. Almost all of your have at least 1 award but the process for appointing and confirming from the user side so they show up is a near lost cause. It's 5 too many steps.



We are also working on a way to access and display the RefreshFriday Show recordings. We also want to make it easier to find and add Resources. OUR SPONSORS is what keeps DealerRefresh up and running with bandwidth, upgrades, space, add-ons, software, hardware and such. So additional ideas to better serve our Sponsors for more effective display and engagement - we are open for suggestions for improvements to the UI, additional engagement, efficiency, overall look and feel - what features you LOVE, current ones that you could not be without or ones you find to be a waste. Let us know!!

Thanks!!

 

[Tallcool1]

Yes! many confirmations and THANKS to all of you that have participated thus far. Very Helpful!!

As most of you pointed out - the "recent activity" is my personal most used feature but it's been a challenge here lately since the service/programmer are no longer supporting it for whatever reason. But we think we've found a slicker and more efficient replacement.

As Alex stated - we have some exciting UI changes and new features headed our way. Really though - major upgrades and changes like this scare the out of me because no matter how many of us use the same popular features, no one uses them in the exact same manor. We all tend to have our own process and steps for achieving the same outcomes and involvement.


@Tallcool1 for example: we currently have an Awards/Achievements feature that gets overlooked due to its cumbersome UI. Almost all of your have at least 1 award but the process for appointing and confirming from the user side so they show up is a near lost cause. It's 5 too many steps.

View attachment 5867

We are also working on a way to access and display the RefreshFriday Show recordings. We also want to make it easier to find and add Resources. OUR SPONSORS is what keeps DealerRefresh up and running with bandwidth, upgrades, space, add-ons, software, hardware and such. So additional ideas to better serve our Sponsors for more effective display and engagement - we are open for suggestions for improvements to the UI, additional engagement, efficiency, overall look and feel - what features you LOVE, current ones that you could not be without or ones you find to be a waste. Let us know!!

Thanks!!

These ideas all sound great! It sounds like the Forum feature is something that you really don't have a choice with.

 

[Alex Snyder]

The makeover is in progress