Forums » Suggestions & Development Discussion » A "my characters" drop down tab?

I am new to this website and I am constantly having problems trying to find where my characters are! I'd really like to have a characters tab. I just learned it was in the dashboard, but it'd be so much easier to have a visible tab also on the drop down menu like so

I have to admit, I'm confused. Clicking on Dashboard is the place where your characters are at? It's not a separate page of its own. It'd be quicker to just click on Dashboard than it is to open a drop-down menu.

You know the Dashboard is where you find the options required to edit characters because you aren't new, Sanne.

When you aren't familiar with the site, the term "Dashboard" with a menu that doesn't explicitly state that's part of what it does can be a tad bit confusing. Of course, after clicking the button, the matter is cleared up... until you forget again and dig about. It can take a few goes to really cement that's what it does. I've had people ask before when trying to help.

I don't so much know that there's any better method than what's in place, except to maybe have a tiny message about this attached to the one that says, "This is your profile page! Want to edit it?" and is itself a link to take you where you need to be. That thing shows up when you first join and make your account, because it rightly realizes you might not know that Dashboard is where you can go to handle all that, despite there being a drop down menu option that says clearly where you should head to start such things.

It even sticks around for a good while, depending on how you approach your profile editing wants. So, adding a link in that same formula that says something like, "Can't find your characters? Go here!" would end the newbie struggle, and shouldn't take much effort to implement.

Dunno. Dashboard works fine for getting character stuffs done, once you realize what you're doing, but then, so does the drop down for Your Profile - yet there's still a helping hand for the latter and not the former.

I honestly think a "Your Characters" drop down link would be kind of redundant. When I look at the Dashboard link, I think, "Okay, so this is where all the settings and character profiles are located." Even though it may not click at first for new users, that's what this help page and others like it are for. (I also think there should be a more comprehensive Help Section, or just have a few links added to it that go to the parts that people have the most trouble with when first starting out, like editing characters and whatnot. I've had to use the search bar a lot just to get to a corresponding help page like the one above, but that's a different suggestion altogether!)

I understand how people can get confused if they're used to having an automatic "My Characters" tab in the drop down list, but it feels like it would be too much work and confusion to make an all new "My Characters" page when the Dashboard is effectively the same thing while combining other settings that may be harder to find right off the bat. Two birds with one stone, right?

I do agree that there may need to be a small "Looking to edit your characters? Go here!" link that takes you to the Dashboard, which wouldn't be too unsimilar to the "Looking to edit your profile?" link. Maybe it can even be turned off once you get used to the system, or for people who are more used to just clicking the Dashboard button. The opt-in, opt-out feature of that is just a suggestion that doesn't have to be implemented, though.

I understand the confusion and that it takes some time to get used to the site's terminology in some areas. However, when you first join, the Minotaur helps you navigate and teaches you where your characters are. If you forget later on, all you have to do is click on "Help" and/or put in the question "How do I edit/create a character" in the search bar, and the information is presented to you immediately. It's also present in the 'Getting Started' guide which is directly linked from the Help dropdown, and if you're new and unsure that seems like the first place to go. As far as I know, the Minotaur also tells you that the Help database is an option and encourages you to make use of it whenever you have a question later on. Users not utilizing the tools that are plentiful and available is a separate problem that isn't related to the site's user-interface in my opinion.