I think the landing page for the site is no good for returning learners. Here I’m looking at the /learn page, though in the main, the comments also apply to the home page:
As a returning learner, you want to continue learning the thing you were last here learning, however even though the site remembers you, there are no obvious links to your learning path - not even in the menu.
Instead, you have a landing page which features a first screen full which contains no links to content and no indication that you’re recognised by the site. Even the courses you’ve started on listed further down the page don’t show any highlights to remind you which ones.
So you think the page hasn’t recognised you, so you look for a login - to discover that the user button is a link to a skeleton profile page, not the drop-down menu you’d expect. It has your username there, so that’s how you know the site does recognise you, but there’s no other indication whatsoever.
freeCodeCamp has it’s good points, notably the interactive workshops, but there’s no need for the landing page(s) to be confusing and odd for returning users.
The /learn page has a large, personalized greeting at the top. I think that’s a solid indication you’re being recognized by the site, not to mention a whole list of links to every subject on fCC:
True, but it shows you a list of different certifications/subjects. Very clearly defined, distinct ones. There’s no chance someone is going to accidentally think they’re learning Relational Databases instead of Responsive Web Design. And as soon as you click on your desired section of the curriculum, there’s a massive “Continue Learning” button to take you to exactly where you left off. I think that’s a perfect reminder of where you can continue learning:
The profile page doesn’t just have your username. It has your profile picture, your join date, stats like streak information and total point count, a GitHub-style activity chart, a list of earned certifications and a timeline complete with links to challenges. That’s plenty of indication that the site recognizes you.
Sure, I can see where fCC’s homepage could always be made better, and I have noticed slight updates over time for the better. But the interface is clean, distraction-free and simple. And getting around has never posed a problem for me, personally.
I understand your concerns about the landing page for returning learners on freeCodeCamp. I think the issue lies in the fact that the site’s UI does not effectively communicate the user’s past activities, which can make it difficult to pick up where they left off.
My suggestion is to make the login button a drop-down menu that displays the user’s past projects and learning paths, allowing them to easily access their previous work. This would make the user experience more seamless and intuitive for returning learners. Good luck!
Agree there is still too much friction to continue from the homepage. There has been some work on this buuut…
“Get started (it’s free)” isn’t really appropriate for a returning user. It sounds like a link to create a new account.
Replace “Get Started” with the “Continue learning” button from a few screens later and it would be a little better. Best yet, just forward me straight into the lesson that the “Continue learning” button would take me.
Zero friction.
From the homepage I have to click
“Get Started”
scroll down to a section and click
then click “Continue Learning”.
There are workarounds: I can bookmark the section I’m on and then I can just click “Continue” from there. Then, update the section bookmark once in a while as I progress. It’s ok, it’s just not ideal or frictionless.
Remember if you want to propose changes, the best way is to open an issue on github
That said, each part of the two pages freecodecamp.org and freecodecamp.org/learn have been carefully planned, so your suggestions may not be accepted, but if you want to start the discussion with the dev team, github is the place to go to
I get that, but why? No other website works like this.
I don’t go to facebook.com/timeline or letterboxd.com/feed. I just go to the main domain and continue my logged in session.
I can use freecodecamp.org/learn as a bookmark as a workaround or even freecodecamp.org/learn/python-v9/ where I can click continue but all of this is a workaround.
It’s fine, it works, but it doesn’t prioritize a frictionless return to where I left off. It’s always a few clicks away
The other one is for the curriculum - this page appears after logging in.
One issue is that the new curriculum is still in beta, so new material could appear anywhere. Then that needs a discussion about does clicking the continue button start from the new material, or continuing from where you left off.
Also, storing links will take up system resources for every user - for a charity that relies on sponsors and donors is a big deal.
I think there is discussion on GitHub about a progress indicator, not sure what the current status is. Clicking a button should take you to the new lesson.
I agree there is a lot of clicking to get back to the current task. I saw other issues on GitHub about searching, indexing, showing completed / not completed challenges. Perhaps they could help address issues with the learning path.
From the /learn menu if you click Certified Full Stack Dev at the bottom it loads the same menu but with an updated UI which shows completed sections. I assume that’s under development / testing? and will become the main menu at some point in the future
That said, I don’t think it’s the how that’s the issue at all so you don’t need to provide code here.
Each user profile already has a list of links to the previously completed tasks. I would imagine just forwarding the user to the lesson after the most recently completed. I mean, there is already a “Continue Learning” button that does this.
