New vPanel Design

[VOIPoLarron]

please try to move away from drop-down menus to a more contemporary UI. No one likes to hunt menus for the sought-after function.

But keep it browser-agnostic and flash-free!

There will certainly be no flash. Not sure what you mean by contemporary nav, could you explain a bit more? As far as the drop downs, we are thinking that we have the nav with only one level of drop downs for ease of use, but you will also have an easy side navigation when on a category. Let me know if you think that would suffice.

Thanks

[VOIPoLarron]

I personally like drop-down menus.

My suggestion would be to add a column to the right perhaps that lists direct links to the xx most used menus the user accesses.

This would be covered in the feature that I was talking about with allowing you to control your "Favorites" tab.

[VOIPoLarron]

Larron,

I am not sure if I understood you correctly. Were you saying that the top level menu would have a drop-down, but once you selected something from the list, a second level menu list would appear, similar to what is currently available?

For example, once you are in the features menu, you see a list across the screen that shows Voicemail, 2nd Line, SMS Controls, Simul Ring, Call Recording, ... So, after you click on Features one time, you don't have to go into the drop-down menu again to select another feature If so, I think that would be acceptable to most users. Users like stevech and me wouldn't have to keep hunting through drop-downs if we just wanted another feature AND users like usa2k would be able to do it either way.

I also like the idea of a BETA tab. Even if there is nothing in it to start (because all current Beta's go to Alpha), you may want to keep it there (empty) as a place holder for new, less supported, features.

Thanks,

Jim

Yup this is correct

[internet54]

Wow, I went to this thread expecting a fresh looking design. Being a web designer/developer, I can say that it looks easy to navigate. That, above all, is the most important about the design...

That said, why not try a completely different approach instead of the forum header look?

I'm sorry my first post seems mean, but designing and coding is what I do all day.

[MisterEd]

I would like to see a more updated "call history" with the caller ID available in one of the columns rather than having to hit a dropdown each time to see the CID as it seems the majority of providers do it.

[fisamo]

Wow, I went to this thread expecting a fresh looking design. Being a web designer/developer, I can say that it looks easy to navigate. That, above all, is the most important about the design...

That said, why not try a completely different approach instead of the forum header look?

I'm sorry my first post seems mean, but designing and coding is what I do all day.

Please don't take my response to your post as being snarky--it's not my intent. But do you have any suggestions for "a completely different approach"?

Here's my suggestion:
I was pretty happy with the CallVantage user interface when I had that service. Upon login, I got a service dashboard that showed status of key features (such as forwarding, do-not-disturb, etc), details regarding the 5 most recent voicemails (caller info, date, time, voicemail had not been listened to if info was in bold)... I could change the status (generally toggle only) of individual features directly from the dashboard, or I could click the name of the feature for more options. Contacts were in a phonebook format (limit of 5 numbers per person; name in phonebook functioned as custom CNAM). Names were all listed alphabetically, with numbers alongside, rather than the records-within-a-record setup that Voipo has implemented.

Most options were all arranged in a single column down the left side of the screen--this column was always visible when logged in. Clicking on one of those options generally brought up the screen I was looking for. In some cases (features one generally wouldn't change often, such as failover destination), I had to click multiple links to get to the screen I wanted, but for the most part, everything I needed was only one click away. In the rare cases where more than one click was needed, it seemed pretty intuitive to figure out how to get to the desired feature controls.

[internet54]

No snarkiness taken.

This is my first voip experience and was just referring to the design aspects of the panel. It looks more early 2000 than 2010. If I took a long enough look at this I could probably put together a really nice and intuitive design. Since I don't have much voip experience, I wouldn't know the best content structure and link tree.

I'm willing to provide my services if requested.

[ctaranto]

Will there be a mobile version?

I think this would help separate the usability from a PC vs usability from a mobile device.

Come up with the "best" interface for a PC, and then create iPhone and Android apps that optimize the functionality for those devices. Best of both worlds.

Granted it takes resources and time to do both, but that should be in the plan.

-Craig

[usa2k]

Hopefully the redesign is actually an API prototype.
Something that will let you customize as you wish in the future.

Mobile variations should be a matter of CSS.
And make sure printing is also formatting by CSS.

[eacollin]

This needs a couple of smart end user oriented people to design, rather than a VoIPo engineer/tech who is too close to the product to get the users' perspective.

How lame is that response.. Why not give some suggestions and be constructive..