Over the last few months, the BigTent team has been busy conceiving, designing, and building the latest incarnation of BigTent.
To inform the new design, we met with group members and administrators to learn how BigTent could better meet their needs for a group networking app. We also dug through site analytics to see how members were using existing features and content, and combed through support logs to understand the site triumphs and pain points of our current users.
With your requests, feedback, and usage stats in mind, we unveiled our updated product last week. Here are some highlights of the new release:
Increased focus on you and your groups. The“my BigTent” page gives members a quick, personalized view of the newest activity in their groups. We also made it easier for members to access their personal calendars by pulling “my calendar” into the top-level navigation.
Improved navigation. We did a little Tent-cleaning by reorganizing and rewording the primary sections of BigTent. Our goal was to make touring the Tent more intuitive and easier to master.
Notably, we moved the classifieds feature into the group context. Now when members want to post a listing for something they have for sale or trade, there’s an easy-to-find tab to get them started.
New look and feel. Our updated visual design gives more prominence to your group’s branding and content. Your group name now sits atop a color-coded header, a change that lays the groundwork for enhanced group customization tools (coming soon!).
Improved group management tools and navigation. The new BigTent admin area sports an action-oriented navigation, making it easier for group leaders to quickly complete their administrative tasks and return to the group. We also revamped the group settings page to make building out your group and adding content even easier.
We hope you enjoy the new BigTent! Let us know if you have feedback, and stay tuned for more upgrades and additions.
–Jay and the BigTent team
