Apple support: ‘Please, why this redesign?’

April 17, 2011, 10:24 AM UTC

The newly revamped discussion forums are filled with complaints about the new design



Source: Apple.com. Click to enlarge.

No good deed, they say, goes unpunished.

No sooner had Apple (AAPL) re-opened its newly redesigned Apple Support Communities center — the place on Apple.com where users bring their computer problems and get comfort, validation and, with any luck, solutions from other users — than the place was filled with complaints about the redesign and suggestions for how to fix it.

Among the hot topics Sunday morning:

  • Who thought using iframes and forcing people to scroll was a good idea?
  • New forum design is processor intensive, slow
  • My first name has been changed to my housemates and his to mine
  • New discussions forum is not iOS compatible
  • What happened to the user tips?
  • Wehre is splee check?

We’ve often relied on the discussion forums both to solve our own problems and to find out what other users were complaining about.

As near as we can tell, Apple has poured the old whines into new bottles with some social-networking bells and whistles — and a few new bugs.

It will take some getting used to.

You can find the Communities forums under the Support tab on Apple.com. For a tutorial on the new features, click here.

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[Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter @philiped]