guide.d20pro.com UX

Hey all, there didn't seem to be more appropriate place for the meta of this request, so here I am.

http://guide.d20pro.com/ is coming along nicely, and I've seen the content improve constantly. Thank you for that.

Unfortunately, the left side "menu" almost useless as a menu and that combined with no search and poor page control layout, it's very frustrating to use. I appreciate that this interface may be a configured out-of-the-box module with limitations that you didn't create nor endorse, so my requests are going to be based on that "I need to see what it can do" instead of "I program it to do exactly anything I want". Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Three improvements to the wiki I'd like to request urgently:

1. The left side menu will only go to a topic if that topic does not have a branching menu to expand/collapse. This makes the majority of the menu useless as a menu - you can only use it to make more useless links expand or hide more pages. One of the following would be so much better:
   1. The expand/collapse arrow to the right is made into its own control to command expand/collapse and clicking on the section title goes to the section.
   2. Clicking on any left side item triggers the expand/collapse if available AND navigates to the relevant page.
   3. Reflow the content to remove all of the branching - if they aren't pages themselves (you're essentially using them as folders to organize content) then collapse the second+ level of content into a single level list (ex. GM Guide is fine, but everything under that can just be articles at one level in order). The previous / next controls are meant to support that flat approach, keeping it clear what should logically be in front and behind you at all times.
      As you have it today, clicking to dig into drop-down after drop-down without seeing new topical content is not clearer or easier for the user.
2. Enable search, for the love of god.
   1. Create and embed a custom search from google for the site: https://cse.google.com/cse/all
   2. Some open source index product could be linked up to it, like Solr or Elastic Search, but I think the first option would be cheaper and easier to start.
3. Make the page controls easier to get to.
   1. The section-to-section controls are buried at the bottom of some very long pages. Making the next and previous section controls available at the top of each page would help as well, not to mention a scroll-to-top link / button of some sort.

Thank you for continuing to improve this platform. I've been using it for quite a long time and it's come such a long way I'm astonished when I think about it.

 

Ahh, the old pause for replacement. Fair enough!

Please let me know if I can be of assistance. Content, Document, and Records Management is a lot of what I do for a living as a Solution Architect.