1630720 - Get Help section for en-US should make it clearer how to ask a question for any product

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(support.mozilla.org :: General, task)

Description

[Alice Wyman]

Attachment: SUMOAskTheCommunity.png

The Get Help > Ask the Community section includes links for en-US users to post a question for different products. The Ask the Community heading itself links to https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/new but it's not obvious that that the heading is a link. The fact that the listed products are links is also not obvious.

The section includes links for only a few products, such as Firefox Browser and Firefox for iOS. Users who want to ask a question for a different product would probably click the link for Browse All Product Forums but that goes to the Support Forum page, https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/ for contributors who are answering questions. "Browse All Product Forums" should be renamed "Choose another product" and link to https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/new. (There's already a Support Forum link under the Contributor Tools Discussions section.)

The en-US Get Help Ask the Community section should also link to https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/forum-rules-and-guidelines since the https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/get-community-support article, which included that link, is now gone from en-US product pages.

Comment 1

[Alice Wyman]

(from comment #0)

The en-US Get Help Ask the Community section should also link to https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/forum-rules-and-guidelines since the https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/get-community-support article, which included that link, is now gone from en-US product pages.

https://github.com/mozilla/sumo-project/issues/397 includes a comment proposing to link to https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/forum-rules-and-guidelines at the end of the AAQ flow. Sounds good, except that people who reply in questions started by others also need to know the rules.

Comment 2

[Alice Wyman]

(from comment #0)

The Get Help > Ask the Community section includes links for en-US users to post a question for different products. The Ask the Community heading itself links to https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/new but it's not obvious that that the heading is a link. The fact that the listed products are links is also not obvious.

The section includes links for only a few products, such as Firefox Browser and Firefox for iOS. Users who want to ask a question for a different product would probably click the link for Browse All Product Forums but that goes to the Support Forum page, https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/ for contributors who are answering questions. <snip>

This came up in the support forum:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1275532#answer-1308564
OK, I can't find the option to post a new question (could someone point it out, please?)

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1275532#answer-1308791
When i click on Get Help, I never find an option to post a new question, even after moving to the Thunderbird forum. How do I go from Get Help to posting? - I spent ages looking the other day

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1275532#answer-1308794
Seems that, to ask a new question, I have to click on Get Help, then on Ask the community (I assumed this was a heading, rather than a link) and not click on Browse all product Forums, then select Thunderbird

Related github issue: https://github.com/mozilla/sumo-project/issues/396

Comment 3

[Matt]

He probably should try clicking on Help in the application. where you go to https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/products/thunderbird

That page has an ask the community link that is clearly a button.

Comment 4

[Alice Wyman]

(In reply to Matt from comment #3)

He probably should try clicking on Help in the application. where you go to https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/products/thunderbird

That page has an ask the community link that is clearly a button.

Yes, when I go to the Thunderbird Menu and click Help -> Thunderbird Help, it opens https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/products/thunderbird in my default browser. However, "Get Help" is at the top of the page, which is where most people will click.

If you scroll down the page, underneath the Thunderbird "Frequent Topics" section, there's a "Still need help?" banner that says, "We’re here for you. Post a question to our support forums and get answers from our community of experts." with an obvious "Ask the Community" button that links to https://support.mozilla.org/questions/new

Even though the goal might be to get people to go through the Help topics or use Search before asking a question, it seems to me that a button or link to ask a support question should be easier to find. Before the Responsive Redesign, a "Get Community Support" aaq link was at the top of SUMO en-US pages, as shown in this March 6, 2020 image from another bug. Earlier, the aaq link was called "ASK A QUESTION".

Comment 5

[Alice Wyman]

(from comment #4)

Before the Responsive Redesign, a "Get Community Support" aaq link was at the top of SUMO en-US pages, as shown in this March 6, 2020 image from another bug. Earlier, the aaq link was called "ASK A QUESTION".

Background: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/forums/contributors/713025#post-74042

Comment 6

[Alice Wyman]

(from comment #1)

https://github.com/mozilla/sumo-project/issues/397 includes a comment proposing to link to https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/forum-rules-and-guidelines at the end of the AAQ flow. Sounds good, except that people who reply in questions started by others also need to know the rules.

Bug 1063790 covers links to the Forum rules and guidelines from the AAQ flow and from forum reply boxes (see bug 1063790 comment 3).

Comment 7

[Alice Wyman]

(from comment #0)

The en-US Get Help Ask the Community section should also link to https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/forum-rules-and-guidelines since the https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/get-community-support article, which included that link, is now gone from en-US product pages.

Adding a Get Help -> Ask the Community link to forum rules and guidelines should be a separate bug that probably belongs under bug 1063790 so I'll remove it from the bug summary.

Comment 9

[Kelimutu [:kiki]]

Related thread: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/forums/buddies/714932

Comment 10

[Alice Wyman]

<deleted> (See comment 11, below)

Comment 11

[Alice Wyman]

Attachment: SUMO-GetHelpAskAQuestion.png

This bug is partially (mostly?) fixed. In Get Help under "Ask a Question" (a title change from "Ask the Community") "Browse All Product Forums" has been replaced with "Browse All Products", which links to https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/new

Sill unresolved is to add more products, such as Thunderbird, to the Get Help > Ask a Question products list and to make it more obvious that those product names are links. Kiki, if you don't think those issues are important then go ahead and resolve this bug as "fixed".

Comment 12

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Better now?
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/

Comment 13

[Emil Ghitta, QA [:emilghitta]]

Hi Alice!

Some navigation UI changes happened recently which might have improved/fixed this ticket.

• The "Ask a Question" top-navbar option no longer acts as a link.
• The "Ask a Question" subpanel lists more products now (Firefox browser, Firefox for iOS, Firefox for Android, Firefox for Enterprise, Firefox Focus, Mozilla VPN, Firefox Relay, Monitor, Pocket, Thunderbird & Mozilla Account)
• The "View all" button redirects the user to the https://support.allizom.org/en-US/questions/new now

Regarding the forum rules and guidelines part, Alice what do you think if we keep track of that case in https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1063790

Comment 14

[Alice Wyman]

(In reply to Emil Ghitta, QA [:emilghitta] from comment #13)

Regarding the forum rules and guidelines part, Alice what do you think if we keep track of that case in https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1063790

Emil, Sounds good! I'll close this bug.