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General Discussion

Can we have a "My Library"?

It's extremely hard to keep track of all new courses I'm interested in. Can we please get a "My Library" section where we can add projects we wish to take so they don't get lost amongst that projects that are constantly being added?

A separate issue, but still related to usability - on my homepage it shows that I'm on the 4th step of a lesson but doesn't show' the green check mark next to the first 3 steps. If I go to that project specifically it shows green check marks for the first three. Why does looking at the same set of steps of a project via the home page differ than going to the actual product? **SCREENSHOTS LINKED IN COMMENT BELOW

The courses here are top notch, but navigation is an absolute mess.

4 Answers

Hi Mark, I think things were designed in a way where you could stay focused by selecting a track based on what you're wanting to learn. Students don't always know which course or programming language they might need to learn for a particular area. Picking and choosing different courses might leave a gap in someone's learning path.

However, you may be correct about the homepage issue and perhaps there are some complex back-end solutions they are trying to implement to fix that. Otherwise you might ask support why there is inconsistency there. This is actually a very good question by the way.

Here's how to quickly navigate the Library.

Treehouse Library Sorting

Nope, the videos are not downloaded. I realize you can navigate the Library quickly that way. But what if I want to add one specific iOS video to "My Library". I shouldn't have to to scroll through the increasingly large library of projects I'm not interested in every time I want to get to the one I am.

And here are my screenshots that show what I'm talking about. https://www.dropbox.com/s/uh4wozqtrgoyk7f/Screen%20Shot%202014-06-09%20at%2010.38.20%20PM.png https://www.dropbox.com/s/o51pfmiqa6543xf/Screen%20Shot%202014-06-09%20at%2010.38.42%20PM.png

It took a minute to grasp what you were saying but I think I'm understanding now. It's actually a very good question and it's the same on my homepage. There is indeed a library but apparently students don't have their own version of that. I find the library is easy to navigate based on the different sorting features, so there shouldn't be too much scrolling. If you're interested in the newest courses it's right there on top, and if you are interested in a particular programming language you can easily sort through that.

Maybe it would be helpful if we had an ability to sort based on courses and projects we've already taken. A more customized library might be a good idea actually. I've been at Treehouse since August of 2012 and I can tell you things have definitely changed dramatically for the better. You might be able to send this thread to support and ask they review it, or possibly tag someone in this post who might be able to help. You can do that with @username.

See, I know how to refine my searches. But I don't want to have to refine those searches every time. That doesn't make sense from a usability standpoint. And let's say I take a month off. I may not remember the course I looked at, but didn't start, and was interested in. Not only that, but there are more classes added that make it increasingly difficult to keep up. Have you used Coursera, Udacity, Codecadmy, basically any other online learning site? There is always a "My Courses/Classes/Projects" section. They understand that users could theoretically search the full catalog every time, but it is annoying.

I want to add a project to a "My Project" list so that way it's there forever. I won't forget about it. I may not get around to it until a month, 6 months, maybe a year from now. But I won't forget about that project. And to ease usability even more, I could bookmark that page (like I often do on Coursera/Udacity/Code School). Now I don't have to waste time adding filters to the entire library of projects and I'm still notified of new courses with the icon on the top right of the screen and via email.

With the current system if I want to add a project my home screen, I have to actually start the lessons. An "add to My Projects" option would be so incredibly convenient. I'd love to look at all the projects I'm interested in, and then apply filters based on that. After a certain point I don't want to see introductory courses.

Do you have a suggestion on who to tag for support? Thanks for the response.

These are all really good questions. I do know that courses are retired often as technology changes so that might be one reason. However, I'd agree with you on some points with the library, and of course the homepage issue to stay consistent.

Maybe Nick Pettit or Ryan Carson could chime in here.

Thank you Dustin, appreciate the help. What kind of inspired this rant was the Mobile Game Design course. Something I know I want to take, but have absolutely no time with my current schedule. I shouldn't say solely that project, though, because there are at least 10 scrolling through the entire library I would like save for later. Ten is probably a low estimate.

I have seen them retire courses - and that makes tracks all the more confusing. I feel like there are upgraded versions of some projects that are part of tracks. If I could add the latest and greatest to a "My Project" list that might alleviate that problem...

Nick Pettit and Ryan Carson, just a thought :D

I really would love a reply from the TH staff. I love the site. I think it looks great. I think the lessons are by-in-large great. But looking good != good usability. Please just favor performance over animation and add useful things such as ways to manage projects other than leaderboards. Who really cares about leaderboards on a site like this? I'm here to learn on my own time, not compete. I work 40+ hours a week. I want quick access to projects I'm interested in, not to compare seemingly arbitrary internet programming points...

Hi Justin,

Both great questions!

Can we please get a "My Library" section where we can add projects we wish to take so they don't get lost amongst that projects that are constantly being added?

We actually already have that on your Home page. Click on the Treehouse logo in the top left corner of the site to go to your Home page. You can add courses from the library to home by hovering over a card in the library and then clicking on the plus sign in the top right corner of the card.

Why does looking at the same set of steps of a project via the home page differ than going to the actual product?

That definitely looks like a bug. I'll make sure the team takes a look at that and figures out what's going on.

Thanks for the great feedback!

We found the bug related to the tracks display on home not checking completed items. I'm reviewing it with a designer right now, so hopefully we'll be able to ship it pretty quickly.

Hey, Alan. Thanks for the quick reply. Sorry for the oversight, I use Treehouse on an iPad most of the time - so no hovering option there.

On my laptop now, and one quick suggestion maybe - have a "do not ask again" option for the "Yes, add it!" button that appears after I hit the plus sign. Going through the library now and adding projects.

Just encountered something else. Not sure if it's intentional or not - can we add Workshops to our library? No plus sign appears when hovering over the One Page WordPress Site Workshop.

Thanks again!

Quick edit: I can't add any Workshop. Trying to add "How to Use Google Analytics" and there's no option. Not sure if that'd be difficult to add, but it'd be nifty! :D

I use Treehouse on an iPad most of the time - so no hovering option there.

The mobile team usually lags behind things a bit with the web app, but I'm sure they're planning on adding Add to Home pretty soon.

On my laptop now, and one quick suggestion maybe - have a "do not ask again" option for the "Yes, add it!" button that appears after I hit the plus sign. Going through the library now and adding projects.

I'll mention that to the designer who worked on Add to Home!

Just encountered something else. Not sure if it's intentional or not? Can we add Workshops to our library? No plus sign appears when hovering over the One Page WordPress Site Workshop.

Unfortunately I bumped into the same issue. I'm going to talk to the dev who added the add to home feature and see if we can get that in.

Oh, and I just shipped that fix for the tracks display on the home screen not showing check marks, so it should be fixed now!

Wow, very quick haha. I think you replied mid-edit. Well thanks again for being so responsive. Glad to see changes are underway. Tell the dev to stream on Twitch so I can watch. It'd be a nice lesson to see how to code things I specifically want to do haha

And if the mobile team ever needs help I wouldn't mind lending a hand. Want to bolster my mobile dev resume and eventually (very soon) stop working 8-5 at IBM doing unit testing after being hired as entry-level app dev :/

I like the minimalistic approach to the library's navigation but one more helpful sort feature would be courses we haven't taken yet.

Also, this may be nit picky but certain features in markdown on the forum are buggy. For instance, headings have odd sizes sometimes and don't always linebreak. I touched on that some in Dave's thread and you can also see some examples in this markdown guide I made.

Thanks, Alan!

P.S. Ordered lists are also buggy. All of this seems to usually work if you're the OP for some reason when you first create a post, but as you can see below it's not working properly.

  1. List item
  2. List item
1. List item    /* Code used above and not an ordered list */
2. List item

First Level Heading

This is a paragraph.

#First Level Heading    /* Code used above and as you can see the line is not breaking */
This is a paragraph.

And just to add... I'm not able to add Deep Dives (or Workshops) to my Home page. Would be a helpful addition if possible! Thanks again!

Thanks for all the thoughtful and helpful suggestions! I really appreciate you taking time to bring these things to our attention. Keep rocking! :)

Thanks, Ryan. Sorry if I came off as rude at all. Was late at night after a long day. I'm extremely impressed at how fast the bug was identified, fixed, and then shipped.

Keep rocking right back at you all! :)

And when the dev team has time please look into the ability to add Workshops to our personal Library. The Projects are great, but Workshops are equally awesome!