[wp-meta] [Making WordPress.org] #6841: Support Forums: Re-establish use of the `/support` top level page

Making WordPress.org noreply at wordpress.org
Wed Mar 8 10:57:57 UTC 2023


#6841: Support Forums: Re-establish use of the `/support` top level page
----------------------------+--------------------
 Reporter:  Clorith         |      Owner:  (none)
     Type:  enhancement     |     Status:  new
 Priority:  normal          |  Milestone:
Component:  Support Forums  |   Keywords:
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 With the redesign of the HelpHub, they moved this content to the new
 `/documentation` top level page. In that same action, the `/support` top
 level page was redirected to the new HelpHub location as well.

 It would be nice if we could have a support landing page here instead, we
 used to have that before HelpHub (HelpHub was implemented as part of the
 Support Theme on dotorg, with a companion plugin initially). By having a
 proper support landing page, it would be possible to properly link off to
 rosetta forums in a unified location (the support team currently maintains
 a manual list in their handbook, which is well hidden, and it would be
 nice to help lift up these communities existence, as the locale-
 recommendations bar is flimsy at best, but is the only way to do so
 currently).

 One of the drawbacks of the current redirect of the support top level page
 is that this is a 301 permanent indicator to search engines, and a search
 for "WordPress support" would take you to to `/documentation` (some
 indexes are now up to date and take you to the forums directly, this was
 not initially the case). I'm a big fan of users helping them selves before
 seeking assistance when possible, but there's no reason a landing page
 can't have a "search our documentation" header like it had before the
 HelpHub redesign, even on the support landing page to help with this, but
 still maintain it's support-focuses otherwise.

 I'm aware that a redesign of the support pages have been talked about, but
 they're also the last in the group due to the high complexity from all the
 tie-ins with the support theme; forums, plugins, and themes. Getting a leg
 up on the potential effect of permanently redirecting support elsewhere,
 and at the same time lifting up other parts of our community, when its
 possible to do this without any major changes (HelpHub's front-page will
 be replaced with the old support front-page by default if we disable the
 widgets in use, this was so that HelpHub could be rolled out to rosetta
 sites easily back in the day).

 Just to point it out though, this isn't specifically about moving
 `/support/forums` up on layer to `/support`, as I think the hierarchy of
 having forums defined in the URL like this makes perfect sense, but rather
 about not having a "non-existent" parent page, that could instead have
 links to our guidelines and similar in a natural and discoverable
 location, and maintain the ranking-potential of this page without causing
 confusion over it shifting back and forth in purpose.

-- 
Ticket URL: <https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/6841>
Making WordPress.org <https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/>
Making WordPress.org


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