Menu for past posts

[shoorayner]

Thanks for all you do at Patreon. It is truly a wondrous platform for creators.

As creators, we care a lot about how things that represent us look. The public page design has improved no end recently, but we still lack a menu or post map system.

Patreon is not a blog where everything is about the latest post. For many creators, posts add up to a library of advice and tutorials which are un-archivable or unfindable by patrons.

By now, some creators, must have hundreds of posts, all hidden away at the bottom of the infinite scroll.

Surely it is time that Patreon introduced some sort of category and menu system that is of use to both creator and patron? The category system was a stop-gap solution to have something working at the beginning, but it really doesn’t provide much value to a mature platform, like Patreon.

Five categories is not enough. I have one post for each uber category, which has a page of links to posts in that category. It means that ugly, blurred-out colour boxes at the top of my page, with badly spaced text, suggests that there is only one post per category - even though that post has a long menu of items. It is the best I can offer, but the design must surely be a contender for the worst UX on the internet today!

Please, Please, Please, can we have a sidebar where we can put links? Or maybe a menu at the top where those blurry boxes appear? That is dead space and definitely available. The ability to add un-blurred graphics would be even better, but just simple sidebar text links would be a start. Thanks

[sambeawesome]

I would LOVE better navigation. (At the moment, I’d prefer to prioritize speed, since the lag is unspeakably insane, and even if patrons can find posts, it doesn’t help if they don’t load. @_@ )

At the minimum, while working on a solution, if the “x more…” button for tags could be made more obvious, that’d be a nice start. I feel like that small bit of text is easy to miss. I’ve lost at least one patron because they couldn’t find what they were looking for. I imagine much bigger creators have lost many more.

@shoorayner

The ability to add un-blurred graphics would be even better, but just simple sidebar text links would be a start.

I’d love this too! It would give us more control over the imagery used as teasers, or have a more cohesive graphic design overall.

[Michael_Loucks]

@sambeawesome

’ve lost at least one patron because they couldn’t find what they were looking for. I imagine much bigger creators have lost many more.

I lost a couple as well, including one who made a big stink about ‘no content’ being available in another forum. That likely interfered with others joining my Patreon.

My solution to this problem, as an author, was to make digital editions of my work available via Sync.com (similar to DropBox, but end-to-end encrypted to prevent Sync from snooping). A pinned post explains how to get this benefit, and has completely resolved the problem. It also make updating older works a snap - I just put them in a special folder on my laptop and minutes later they’re updated on all my user’s devices automatically.

Not sure it would work for everyone, but it works really well for me. I’m happy to answer questions about it and provide help. DMs are perfectly acceptable.

[sambeawesome]

I’ve recently switched to relying on Google Docs as a giant menu of sorts, where I list all my tutorials, both public and Patreon only. It hopefully emphasizes how much content there is, and also hopefully makes it easier for people to find what they’re looking for.

Really wish pinned posts could be public. I’d love to make use of that too to help people out.

[intrinsicpaths]

YES. Adding my vote to this thread to have easier past-content navigation! ; ) I am always so aware that when a new Patron joins, it will be nearly impossible for them to easily skim, browse, and connect with past content. I try to do monthly digests and I always do a big annual digest (which has worked fairly well), but easy searching/sidebar, etc would be wonderful.

[shoorayner]

Thanks for all your thoughts. Even better would be a kind of sidebar widget system that wordpress uses, though I completely understand that Patreon has to make sure any navigation system needs to be secure and not gamed or abused. Just an internal link system, with category headings would do. Images with the categories would be even better.

[The_Eco_Tree]

YUP! It would take Patreon to the next level for creators and patrons alike.

[SarahDawn]

Yes. I have knitting/crochet patterns available for Patrons, and that’s a pinned post and seems to work pretty well with links to each pattern; but so much other stuff gets lost in the infinite scroll. I’d love a better navigation system.

[BrianJamesFreeman]

Yep, this is something that has been desperately needed for ages.