647297 - [mobile] Streamline Firefox for Mobile FAQ

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(www.mozilla.org :: General, defect)

Description

[Jason Grlicky [:grlicky]]

Similarly to Bug 646191, while working on Bug 642269, it occurred to me that the extreme length of the Mobile FAQ would be a barrier to making it digestible on mobile, even with expanding sections.

After discussing the with Madhava, I realized that this is actually a symptom of the FAQ being written for four separate audiences - press and everyday users seeking general product information, users seeking product support, and developers looking for technical documentation. 

I propose that we refocus the FAQ for just one audience, and remove it as a subsection of mozilla.com/mobile.

We can do this by looking at the audiences above, and thinking about where they are currently served best, and if they can be served better by a FAQ:

* Users looking for general product information can find it on the home page and in more detail at http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/mobile/features/. This page's goal is to give an overview of Firefox for Mobile's features for a general audience, so it seems like any salient product information in the FAQ is redundant.

* Users seeking product support find it at  http://support.mozilla.com/mobile. Whole teams are dedicated to keeping these articles up-to-date and localized, and there is a vibrant community on the support forums. They also have an actual list of the most frequently visited help articles, all written for a general audience. The best place for a user to look for help about any of Mozilla's products is on SUMO!

* Users seeking technical documentation can find the canonical developer documentation at http://developer.mozilla.org/mobile, with it's own list of most popular articles. MDN is specifically tailored to this audience, while the FAQ is not.

* The press seem to be the audience best served by this article. I'm not sure where else they could find more in-depth information about Mobile than what is on the Features page. Since they are not served well elsewhere, it seems to make the most sense to have a press-focused FAQ that includes information beyond what we include in press releases. This way, our press releases can stay focused and concise, and members of the press looking for more detailed product info can still have access to it.

Refocusing this document as a press-oriented FAQ about general product features would involve several changes:

* The document would basically be composed of content of the "About Firefox" section, revised to make sure it makes sense for the audience. We would need to think critically about what questions the press actually asks us frequently - looking at the existing press on Mobile would be a great start. Below that, we could have a short list of links that direct the reader to more Firefox to Mobile Support (SUMO), and Technical Documentation (MDN), just in case they want to dig deeper.

* We would stop linking to the FAQ from the main header Nav or the footer.

* We would also stop linking to it from SUMO, MDN, and about:firefox.

* It should be linked to from the Press section of the website (if we have one of those), and also from any press releases we do.

* It could be linked to from the very bottom of the features page, for users that want to dig deeper about specifics of the product.

Finally, if it turns out that we do not need a press-centric FAQ, then I suggest we think critically about if we actually need a FAQ at all. And of course, this all of this applies to the Firefox and Firefox Home FAQs as well.

While adapting mozilla.com's content and site structure to new changes in the coming quarter, like a shortened release cycle, merging mozilla.com under mozilla.org, or a full mobile-friendly version of mozilla.com, we should keep informational and organizational simplicity at the top of our minds. Let's make sure that each page on our site serves only one purpose, and does it as concisely and effectively as possible. This type of structure is easier on users (they no longer have to decide to get help at SUMO or the FAQ - the less choices the better), easier on us (simplified navigation structure = good for mobile, less to maintain), and easier on our localization community (less text!).

It will take a lot of work, but we can do it! I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Comment 1

[Laura Forrest]

Caitlin - what are your thoughts here? Also, overall priority against all the other mobile bugs.

Comment 2

[Mike Alexis [:malexis]]

mobile FAQ is looking good: http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/mobile/faq/

Resolving this wontfix