All members are invited to try the new AgingCare!
Why are we updating AgingCare? In short, keeping our website up to date is the most important thing we can do to support family caregivers. We know change is difficult, so this redesign is not a decision we came to lightly. AgingCare is proud to have built a base of over 3,000 articles; 500,000 questions; and over 2 million users each month. The best way to stay the most actively used caregiving resource in the market is to better reflect our brand and values throughout our site. Our company has evolved and grown, and we want our site to reflect that. Our core values guided our new design. AgingCare’s purpose is to partner with caregivers in finding answers, resources, and support. We are excited to launch a redesign that focuses on that purpose.
Once you are logged in to your AgingCare account, the ability to toggle back and forth between the New AgingCare and Classic AgingCare will appear below the header. We encourage you to try it. AgingCare has a whole new look. Although we know it will take some adjustment, we truly believe we’ve made some great improvements.
Better Topic Navigation: Topic Tags have been introduced to more specifically identify and organize content. Tags can be found on articles, questions, and comments. Each tag can be clicked to navigate directly to all content identified with that topic.
Content List (Caregiving Glossary): Navigation to caregiving topics is available through the use of the individual tags, the new grey topic bar, the drop down menu button, or by browsing the caregiving glossary found in the footer.
Functions in the New Navigation Header: The Menu button provides access to the Caregiver Forum, caregiver resources, and a topic list. The AgingCare logo always acts as a return to the home page. The question mark icon is a quick jump to the Caregiver Forum. The search bar is always present to search AgingCare by keyword.
Your avatar (circle in the top right) provides dropdown access to your profile, newsfeed, activity, settings and logout. You can customize your avatar or add your favorite picture by going to Profile and clicking on the camera button to upload a picture. Once you have logged in, your avatar becomes the access point for your member tools.
Profile: Your public profile is the view other members see when they click your username.
Newsfeed: Your news feed lets you easily see new activity by members and elder care experts on the articles, discussions and questions that you are following.
Activity: Your activity page lets you easily see all of the posts you have made on articles, questions, and discussions as well as the messages you have sent.
Settings: Your settings is where you make changes to your account, including what you would like other member’s to be able to see on your public profile.
Logout: A more convenient location to log out of the site after use.
The Caregiver Forum functions in the same way it always has. Questions and discussions are presented by default in the most recent order and can still be sorted by recent and popular. We’ve added new features to the forum’s functionality.
"Needs answers" is a separate slider and sort function so that once logged in, our most dedicated members can easily find other members in need of advice.
"Closed topic" is now presented on any question or discussion that has been inactive for 180 days. The question/discussion will be closed to new answers or comments. The threads will remain fully available to read for past advice and informational purposes.
"Reply" is a feature that allows a member to reply directly to another member regarding an answer they have provided. This feature is intended to allow answers to the original question to stay on topic while still allowing interaction between members participating in direct “conversation.”
The entire AgingCare team has been working hard on these changes, and we sincerely appreciate your patience and feedback as we iron out the details. After some initial adjustment, we hope you will find the new design as exciting as we do. Feel free to use the link to leave feedback to let us know your thoughts.
I have left you private messages on the new website, lol.
Maybe she is stuck in cyberland between the two websites?
That is about the longest post you ever made. Congratulations! You even have your paragraphs separated! Nice!
BTW, I like that my avatar is much cooler looking on the new site but I had trouble finding myself 😉
Those very long postings I usually skip as they are hard to read and I am always losing my place :( Or create software system where such postings are allowed and we as the reader can go in and break up the posting just for ourselves to read, but it doesn't change how it was presented.
----But I found how to get to the Questions another way which looks more like the format we have now..... ok, Log In.... go to "Ask A Question".... by-pass the Question block and scroll up.... click on "Need Answers" for those questions that need more than one answer [odd, as some questions one answer is good enough].... and you can also click on "Recent Questions". All the questions are up and down, where I can control the speed :))
----What happened to all the hugs? I only found 4 to choose from. I usually use the cat with the sunglasses when I write someone a general message. Please bring that one back.
----Now my paragraphs are missing? I better sign out before something else happens :P Using --- to show the breaks.
----Aging Care I am using a desk top computer, and using FireFox.
I was hoping to see more profile options. Main one being former caregiver, with loved one deceased. Maybe that is too depressing for newcomers? What the heck?! "Other"!
"Caring for" option to enter name of person and birth date. Why not just have the year? I started to enter only the year, then asked for valid date, and no option to backspace, edit, or cancel. I do not want to enter a valid date but cannot delete what I started.
As glad mentions, the introduction of left to right is in response to the dominance of smart devices... we're having to keep up with the times. However, in the testing round many of you indicated a preference for top down, so as you noticed we introduced the ability to change the view by clicking the header.
In regard to paragraphs, I sent you an email earlier investigating that bug further. As moderator, I can tell you that the majority of the posts appear without formatting. Although I will add periods to try to ease the ability to understand the body of a question, we generally don't modify a post further in order to honor the intent of the member. Our concern is that you have noticed that your posts are created with formatting that is being stripped away. That's different, definitely a bug and we're working on it.
Glad, your ideas on updating the profile are noted and appreciated. Based on past feedback, we have already conceptualized a former caregiver feature. While we are running the sites concurrently (allowing for members to ease into the transition), we can't introduce new features that are unsupported by the classic site. Once we transition to the new site as a stand alone, former caregiver will be an option. Yes, sad, but a reality -and an important reality as those who have been through this journey often have the most knowledge to share.
When I toggled to the new, it didn't show me as logged in
I also like the option to reverse the order of the answers, that should help the people on handheld devices have complained about getting to the newest post on long threads.
There are a lot of features available on the new site that aren't apparent until you play around with it for a while.... keep exploring everyone!
I don't mind seeing who answered last on the thread, as that tells me if I had already read that one thread or not recently.
I also think the limited "hugs" available discourage the more personal aspect of interaction.
While I can understand the left to right and back scrolling to accommodate handheld devices, I find it hard on the eyes. If that is a primary consideration, it should be an option. I don't plan to challenge my aging eyes to accommodate those who prefer that method of online posting.
Computers are hard enough on posture, hands (tenosynovitis and carpal tunnel syndrome) w/o adding left to right eye movement. It's natural within a certain range of movement, but not to the extent of that incorporated into hand held devices. I don't plan to get a handheld and squint to see the content.
And I can only afford one computing device; that's it.
Both my sig other and myself still use desk top computers. I love just leaning back with my head on the tall back of the chair and type away. I even have one of those "elder" keyboards where the keys are yellow with large lettering on them :)
I still have a flip type phone... mine has a slide out keyboard. But if I cut my finger nails, I can't text for a couple of weeks !!
I would think that collisions would be another potentially injurious issue as I see so many people walking with their heads down, not watching where they're going.
about an hour ago
I was just posting a message on Dori's wall. I was staring at the HUG avatars. Wouldn't it be great if the AC people can come up with an avatar that has a cartoon figure or an animal snoozing with the 'zzzzz' written around it? Then we can send exhausted caregivers this Sleeping Hug that we wish they would get the zzzzs (sleeps)?
I appreciate the ability to sort the responses.
I like being able to reply to a specific response.
I'm totally glad that very old threads are available to read but closed to comments.
I'm happy that the Search feature is obvious.
I'm using the new format all the time now, except sometimes going to the old format to see if there is data "about" a new poster that isn't showing up in the new format yet. Sometimes there is. I assume (hope) this will be remedied when there are no longer 2 versions of the site.
I would also like a "former caregiver" designation. AND I would like to know what country a poster is in. Giving advice about Medicaid to someone in India is a waste of their time and ours!
Thanks for the updates!