Breadcrumbs and window size

[Lucy2009_1]

I used to use itrc.hp.com for all kinds HP-UX related questions and solutions. Where is it now? Is there similar site for HP-UX community forum and discussion?

[Steven Schweda]

> [...] Where is it now? [...]

   Perhaps you seek:

      https://community.hpe.com/t5/HP-UX/ct-p/itrc-117

   The fact that you found this forum and not the one for HP-UX might
indicate that this whole "Community" thing is a navigation nightmare.
(What's a "SUB-CATEGORY" compared to a "FORUM", for example?  If I lost
my bookmarks, there's no telling how long it might take me to find this
stuff again.)

[Warren_Admin]

Hi Steven, 

The hierarchy works this way: On the navigation bar are four menus: Forums, Blogs, Information and Languages. 

Categories are the top-level accretions by type of product, solution, program (a program would be something like My Learning, which is a certification program) or topic (such as Big Data, Security, etc.) Forums break down the categories to the next level, and contain discussion boards. Information on the menu bar contains resources like FAQs, other communities, announcements, and so on. Changing languages will take you to dedicated local language categories, where the entire user experience changes. 

Finally, you have discussion boards and blogs. "Feedback and Suggestions" is a discussion board,. The actual conversations take place on the discussion boards. I've seen some people who wanted to understand the navigation do a search, locate the content they wanted, then work their way up, one level at a time, using the breadcrumb next to "Community Home." Each "level" of the Community will show you what's available at that level, and the breadcrumb takes you "up one".

I hope this is helpful. 

[Steven Schweda]

> The hierarchy works this way: [...]

   Ok, but starting at the top (with the annoying animated stuff),
"Categories" offers "Servers and Operating Systems".  I'd hope to see a
list of list of Operating Systems forums when I got there, but instead I
see a "FORUM" list which offers nothing related to operating systems,
and a "SUB-CATEGORY" list which offers a bunch of other stuff which
might also be server types, plus yet another chance to select "Operating
Systems".  Why is "Legacy" a SUB-CATEGORY, but "Alpha Servers" is a
"FORUM"?  Under "Servers and Operating Systems", why is "Operating
Systems" a SUB-CATEGORY, but there is no "Servers" SUB-CATEGORY?

   If I do select "Operating Systems", I get to a page which also has
"SUB-CATEGORY" and "FORUM" lists, but I don't need them, because _here_
there's actually a list of operating system (forum) links down below.
Which is a good thing, because these "SUB-CATEGORY" and "FORUM" lists
are the same as the ones on the up-one-level page.  (So I can keep
selecting "SUB-CATEGORY > Operating Systems" and getting nowhere as long
as I might wish to.)

   Perhaps this arrangement made some sense to the fellow who designed
it, but it never made any to me.  Having some stuff hidden inside those
"SUB-CATEGORY" and "FORUM" lists is, itself, annoying.  All the more so,
when, if I ever stumble down to:
https://community.hpe.com/t5/Operating-Systems/ct-p/operating_systems
I see all the operating systems lying out in the open, not hidden in any
secret lists.

> [...] I've seen some people who wanted to understand the navigation do
> a search, locate the content they wanted, then work their way up, one
> level at a time, using the breadcrumb next to "Community Home." [...]

   If I had seen that, then I might have thought that the victim was
navigating backward instead of forward because navigating forward is too
confusing.  And I almost never see those breadcrumbs, because my browser
windows are too narrow, and so all those might-be-helpful breadcrumbs
have been collapsed/abbreviated into uselessness.

   I don't mind a hierarchy.  I expect a hierarchy.  I object to a
hidden/obscure/tangled hierarchy, with loops.

> I hope this is helpful.

   Not really, but thanks for trying.

[Lucy2009_1]

It is a bad designed support page. I couldn't get to the right place to post my HP-UX related question and couldn't find the place to open a case with support. When trying to chat online, it put me in queue forever...

[Dennis Handly]

ITRC forum was converted to Lithium in 2011.  Support was changed to HPSC and now HPESC:

http://h20565.www2.hpe.com/portal/site/hpsc/public

>Why is "Legacy" a SUB-CATEGORY, but "Alpha Servers" is a "FORUM"?

Because typically categories have more than one board.

 > "Operating Systems" a SUB-CATEGORY, but there is no "Servers" SUB-CATEGORY?

Because they jammed OS into Servers without consulting us.  It should have been left apart.  :-(

And since they were already in Servers category, no need to move things down one.

> So I can keep selecting "SUB-CATEGORY > Operating Systems" and getting nowhere as long as I might wish to.

Yes, I got fooled by that too, originally.

> because my browser windows are too narrow, and so all those might-be-helpful breadcrumbs

Yes, I got messed up once because my PC crashed and I didn't make my window large enough.  Also breadcrumbs need to have multiple levels so we can skip faster.  I.e. make the "..." be a link to up two

>couldn't find the place to open a case with support.

The forum isn't the place for official support  The Quick Links at the top point to:

https://www.hpe.com/us/en/support.html

[GitJSonC]

New Support home page

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Support Center http://www.hpe.com/support/hpesc

[Dennis Handly]

> breadcrumbs need to have multiple levels so we can skip faster.

Now implemented:

https://community.hpe.com/t5/Announcements/Updated-UX-Design-Updates-Live/m-p/6991404

[Steven Schweda]

> > breadcrumbs need to have multiple levels so we can skip faster.

> Now implemented:

> [...] I almost never see those breadcrumbs, because my browser
> windows are too narrow, and so all those might-be-helpful breadcrumbs
> have been collapsed/abbreviated into uselessness.

   Still true.  There seems to be ample white space available to be
used, but it remains unused until ample becomes excessive.

[Dennis Handly]

@Steven Schweda  I almost never see those breadcrumbs, because my browser windows are too narrow,

Unfortunately there are confirmation responses that fail if the window is WIDE.  :-(

The responses are thin as spaghetti.  Some missing lines of text and others just a solid black line.