As you add a question to a forum (i.e. start a new thread) whatever you enter will invoke the site's search utility to see if what you are asking had been asked previously: In situations where no of the returned results is what you are looking…

When you use Search, results appear as you are entering what you are searching for. As you start, you will see one set of results: and then as you enter more information, you will see a different set of results: Subsequently, when you enter…

As mentioned previously , Search results are based on the scope of where you are when you initiate your search. So if you are in a wiki, the results will default to being scoped to that community's wiki content: You can dynamically expand that to…

The Communities Search function provides a better user experience by supporting "natural language" search for content, users, etc. within scope of the application (e.g. forum, community, site, etc.) that you are currently in, but with the flexibility…

Something else that helps provide assistance in finding solutions to issues is a dialog that appears and suggests other content that could be relevant or recommended as it relates to what you are looking at. As you scroll down through forum threads and…

Regardless of the browser, device, or size of the browser window, search is always present in the interface. This provides continual, almost persistent reminder that search is a primary form of getting information and answers to questions.

In the activity streams, replies to posts and answers to posts are linked directly to the thread they are part of: So there is no longer any need to have to expand the "View original post" to see what the response is to.

Something else to provide more obviousness is the elimination of tabs for options in the Forum post editor. All options are now on the same page as the editor: This makes it much easier to "see" all options available to you when creating or maintaining…

The "More" button combines a number of user interface items (e.g. tabs, "hidden" glyphs, etc.) that competed for space or were just plain not obvious. This makes some previously hidden items (e.g. "Flag as spam/abuse", moderator options…

Forum thread presentation got a good deal of user experience improvement. When looking at the forum thread list... If you click on "Answered" or "Suggested Answer", you will see a preview of the answer without having to "open" the thread. …

Another great new capability included with the Communities platform upgrade is responsive design. With this scheme, site elements appear almost identically on different formats and screens -- whether from a desktop browser or from a mobile browser. With…

One of the various things we heard from members when the Communities site was migrated at the end of 2013 was what the new things were. In this migration, there is something called "Tour Tips" included, which are meant for first-time, new members and…

We recently mentioned that an upgrade to our Communities site is coming. A sneak peek at the next release is below: Our biggest effort is to provide “new and improved” for the user experience. Although we are starting simple, there are…