SQL Server TechNet/MSDN Web Updates : Future

Moving on...

chriskil — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:31:00 GMT

One thing that is constant at Microsoft is change and I am moving on to support a different web site here on TechNet, so I will no longer be supporting the SQL Server Tech and Developer Centers and maintaining this blog.

Thank you for reading along and suggesting improvements to the sites - it's been a pleasure and I'll see you on our other sites!

Best regards,

Chris

What's new on the SQL Server Tech and Developer Centers - 9 Jan., 2008

chriskil — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 21:50:00 GMT

Happy New Year!

I took two weeks off from coming into the office and spent some great time with my family just relaxing. Amazingly, it actually snowed here in the Seattle area on Christmas. Our marine climate tends to make snow an infrequent occurance, usually in January and February, so it was a nice treat. But I wasn't completely disconnected from the office; I did spend some time working remotely on the SQL Server web sites.

So, what's new with the sites? Well, everything, as I have just pushed the button to launch the newly revamped SQL Server TechCenter and Developer Center!

For months (years?) you, our customers, have been asking us, "Why do you (Microsoft) force us to go to different web sites for SQL Server information?" The answer had more to do with past history and how things had been done, plush a dash of internal politics, but today, we've taken a giant leap forward in creating a more cohesive experience for you when visiting TechNet or MSDN online.

Here's what I, along with phenomenal support from my team, have done:

* Completely scoured the TechNet and MSDN sites for bad links and fixed them

* Purged/combined pages as needed

* Re-built the web site architecture from the ground up

* Categorized content (pages) that were the best fit for IT Pros, Developers or both audiences. Content pages for both audiences, which we're calling Core Content, are now shown on both sites, in the same site map location.

* Provided a cross-property TechNet/MSDN navigational link in the upper right-hand corner of the page to view the same or related page on the other site

* Added links to relevant TechNet and MSDN forums to many pages

* Added links to events, webcasts and virtual labs to relevant pages

* Updated the MSDN home page to match the look and feel of the TechNet home page

* Adding a ratings and feedback header to every page - tell us what you think of the page or site

* And a whole bunch of other little stuff you'll see and things you won't on the back-end

This now means that if you're looking for information about SQL Server 2005 Notification Services, the pages on TechNet and MSDN are exactly the same, you won't have to view them both to find all the information about the topice, and when we update the page, changes will appear on both sites at the same time.

Long-term, we have also unblocked some back-end issues that will make site localization easier, which means more localized content, and put the site into ship-shape for upcoming SQL Server 2008 content.

How did we do? Please use the ratings and feedback header to tell us or leave me a comment.

Best wishes for a safe and prosperous 2008!

Chris

SQL Server 2008 is coming, and so is a reorganized SQL Server site

chriskil — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 00:33:00 GMT

SQL Server 2008 is coming, and you can learn more about it on TechNet, MSDN or the general SQL Server product site.

If you're a regular visitor these web sites, you've noticed over past year that we've been moving content around, upgrading the look and generally working towards trying to upgrade the site experience for you. (Sometimes it's a hit, and sometimes it's...not.) Recently, to get prepared for SQL Server 2008, I've been doing quite a bit of work here with the SQL Server team to identify pages that we don't need any more, or need to be updated, or combined with other pages.

We're good about putting information up, but not always so good about putting it in the all the places we should and then pulling it down when it's out of date. We're going page by page, link by link to make sure there are no dead ends, that we're still linking to useful information and cleaning up the visual look and feel of some of the pages, (like using two columns instead of one so you don't have to scroll as much.) I did a lot of this on the TechNet site in May, when we moved to the site interface we're using on the site today, but the MSDN site needs some serious attention.

Another thing that we've consistently heard is that technical SQL Server information is spread across TechNet and MSDN and that it can be hard to locate all the information you might need to solve a problem or answer a question. We took a huge step forward on this in May when the SQL Server Books Online were made available through the TechNet Library and sharp-eyed readers noted that the monthly theme pages are exactly the same on TechNet and MSDN.

(You can see this by clicking on the TechNet and MSDN links above and opening a new tab or browser window for each and comparing the pages.)

In the very near future, you will see this ability to surface the same page on both sites taken to a whole new level on the SQL Server TechNet and MSDN sites. Couple this with the content scrub we're doing and I hope that the upcoming site changes will make it easier for you to find the information you want without having to bounce back and forth between the sites so much.

Stay tuned...

How do you like the new SQL Server TechCenter home page?

chriskil — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 23:59:00 GMT

If you've visited the SQL Server TechCenter home page before, you'll notice that we've shaken things up a bit in our visual design.

We've added five feature area across the top, and each contains links to content we think you're trying to get to quickly. Things like popular downloads, troubleshooting resources, how-do-I? articles, recent news and getting started. We've also added more blog and forum posts, so you can get a flavor for what's happening with SQL Server across and outside the company, and (hopefully) see something different every time you visit. These items weren't just selected at random - I used data from our web surveys and web metrics to inform the choices you see displayed on the page.

Granted, not everyone is offered a survey when they visit the site, so in the interest of providing a more direct feedback mechanism for each and every page on the site, we're finally re-adding a ratings and comments tool that appears in the upper-right hand corner of the page as a series of five starts. If you hover your mouse over the stars, they'll change to gold and you can then click on a start rating to select what you think of the page (one star = it sucks, five stars = it's great) and you have the opportunity to enter in some free-form text comments.

Why should you bother to tell us what you think of the page?

If you rate the page, I can then collect that data and share it with our design team and my managers to talk about how much you like the page in general. If you enter in comments about what you do and don't like, or suggestions for improvement, I also can then incorporate that feedback into proposed future designs. This data is taken very seriously. So seriously, that for many of us working on the sites, our performance is judged on customer satisfaction.

To set expectations on requests and suggestions, we can't always do everything everyone asks for. Visitors to the site range from beginners to experts and come for a variety of reasons at any given time. That doesn't mean we don't want to hear what you want to see! On the contrary, if enough of you ask for a specific thing (and enough can be variable from a handful to hundreds depending on the page), we'll work on trying to meet that need.

Currently, the ratings tool is only on the TechNet SQL Server home page, but I will be rolling it out site-wide on TechNet and MSDN SQL Server Centers as I work to re-organize the sites in the middle of November. I'll talk more about that in a future post.

So please take the time to rate the page and tell us what you think. As you start to see more site changes in the next few months, I want to make sure your voice is heard and that we're changing the site to meet your needs - not what I, or anybody else here, thinks your needs are.

Cheers!

Chris

Howdy!

chriskil — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 21:39:00 GMT

Hello everyone!

My name is Chris Kilbourn and I am the Web Site Manager for the SQL Server TechCenter on TechNet and the Developer Center on MSDN. I've been site managing the TechCenter for about a year now and the Developer Center for four months.

If you've ever come to either site and wondered, "I wonder who updates these sites and what were they thinking when they did X?", it's been me. As to what I was thinking, well, that's what this blog will be all about.

I'm planning on doing at least a weekly update to highlight what's been added to the sites and to pull the curtain back as I can on the behind-the-scenes things that my team is working on to make all the TechNet and MSDN sites better.

Want to provide some feedback on the sites? Please do! (I'll have a future post about how customer feedback is incorporated into site design and maintenance.)

Soon, there will be a formalized feedback mechanism for the site that you'll be able to use that will flow into the site metrics I share with my managers, but in the interim, feel free to leave a comment.

Chris