Has the SAP Community development team fallen asleep?

[Former Member]

Two months have passed since the new SAP Community release.
Due to the numerous number of bugs/missing features/design flaws, I could expect that the development team would work around the clock to fix these issues.

However, so far, there wasn't any major update/fix (At least none I'm aware of).

Where are you guys?

[Former Member]

Blogs are posted here periodically about changes - the most recent was on Friday - Release highlights as of December 2, 2016.

More detailed release notes are published here - release notes in the SAP Community wiki.

Steve.

[Former Member]

Thanks, I wasn't aware of this Wiki page.

BTW,

It's a good start, but it seems that none of the more important issues/improvements (like these described in http://go.sap.com/community/about/beta-feedback.html) have been solved/implemented so far.

[Former Member]

A blog about the current development priorities was posted a few weeks ago - Update about the Development of Priority Features.

The team are trying to be very transparent about issues, progress and development priorities, but you do need to watch for their posts. I'd suggest at least watching for blogs in this "Using SAP.com" tag to keep up to date with what's going on. You can also watch the wiki page to get an email when it is updated.

[Former Member]

If I only knew how to watch someone's posts (in the new SAP community)...

[Former Member]

You can follow the tag, or a person, and corresponding updates appear in your activity stream. The activity stream isn't as good at the moment as is used to be, but if you don't follow much then that should help you keep on top of things.

To see just blogs posted to this "Using SAP.com" tag, which is where the main announcements will appear, you can periodically check on this unwieldy URL - https://blogs.sap.com/sap/82352407468693968798155/486157991894093153608181816584982/. There are other blogs worth reading, too, besides the announcements.

The wiki page with release notes is different (and better) - follow that and you'll get email updates. You should at least do that if you want to hear about changes.

[Former Member]

Thanks for your reply.
However, as you've mentioned yourself, the activity stream is quite useless right now.

Moreover,

1. At least for now, you cannot even follow the whole "Using SAP.com" tag blogs.
2. I meant to follow/watch specific author's posts/comments (of Jerry Janda, for example). I used to it in the old SCN, but it doesn't seem to be possible right now.

[jerryjanda]

Hi, Shai:

Thanks for the question. As the guy who prepared a lot of the posts mentioned above, I'm always sorry to see my updates aren't always so visible. There is plenty of good advice above on how to keep track of updates. We also tend to put the latest news on the SAP.com/community overview page. And social media shares the updates via tweets and FB posts.

Of course, that still isn't good enough. The issue of announcements has been raised, as has the need for a general communications page.

For now, I hope the comments here provide a good starting point.

Best regards,

--Jerry

[Former Member]

Hi,
Thanks for your reply.

I'm happy to see you are aware of the updates visibility issue.

Where should I see the news on the overview page, by the way?

[jerryjanda]

Hi, Shai:

Big news and updates will generally appear in one of the rotating hero spaces at the very top. We've also added a little announcement space.

Best regards,

--Jerry

[JL23]

"Rotating hero" !!! a SC online game, who can complete reading before the picture changes?

[Jelena]

LOL. 🙂 Almost got nauseous today after staying on the home page few seconds too long. Whooosh! Wait, what, where did it go? At least the transition was smoother on the old website, now browser is flashing some activity at the bottom and the whole page blinks. Oy vey...

[VeselinaPeykova]

I think, you might need to explore other options to handle announcements - this announcement appears on just one page, which not everybody uses, when logging on; it is only for US (SAP proposes a country, based on your location, when you load the main page); the placement is in the middle of the page and not at the top - where people expect to see important stuff, the text uses the same fonts and colors as the whole page, it is placed just below a carousel, to which people develop 'selective blindness'.

If you wish to get some good ideas how to design announcement features, I would suggest to have a look at some good browser-based games.

[former_member186338]

I am never using main Community page, working directly with tag pages. I will never see announcements 🙂

[jcgood25]

The wiki update was very clear and concise (even if it was lacking info details) - perhaps a good model to follow 🙂

[Former Member]

I must be missing something, but I don't see any announcements in the Community page (except "downtime for 1DX Wordpress").

Where is it hiding?

(Maybe behind Waldo? :))

[JL23]

just about 4 inch south south west:

[Jelena]

Here is a link for the blogs with "Using SAP.com" tag, bookmark it in your browser: https://blogs.sap.com/sap/82352407468693968798155/486157991894093153608181816584982/

I do wish bug fixes happened at faster pace and some old SCN functionality was restored sooner but it is what it is.

You can also follow the SCN team members (who post the blogs above) to get visibility in your activity stream.

[catlacroix99]

Hi Jelena,

RE: "...browser is flashing some activity at the bottom and the whole page blinks..." Do you have a screen shot of that? I've not seen this happen before. It would be good to know what it is. Thanks

[Jelena]

It does not happen today for some reason (because I posted here? 🙂 ). It was too fast to capture a screenshot, unfortunately. Something flashed there like the usual messages, e.g. "waiting for somesite.com..." or "loading". Transition seems to be smooth today. If I catch it again I'll let you know.

Thank you!

[catlacroix99]

Hi all,

Yes, the rotating hero does go pretty fast. I'm looking into slowing it down so the transition doesn't make everyone ill. LOL.

Stay tuned.

[JL23]

I just noticed that one can stop the sliding by moving the mouse nervously over the picture, contrary to how I used to work, I do this with the mouse when the application is not fast enough