Orbit

2024

Your doumentation and community info in one place.

mY Role and summary

I played a significant role on the team in redesigning and transforming Panoramica into a Community search. The project was to create a unique search experience like the "Google of the organization". Community Search is a platform that merges documentation search and community surfing into one holistic solution for help and understanding for both dev solutions and their respective users.

I played a significant role on the team in redesigning and transforming Panoramica into a Community search. The project was to create a unique search experience like the "Google of the organization". Community Search is a platform that merges documentation search and community surfing into one holistic solution for help and understanding for both dev solutions and their respective users.

Context and problem

What is panoramica

Panoramica is a search platform that integrates with your documentation giving your users access to both docs content and community info like discord chats and Twitter engagements etc.

Panoramica is a search platform that integrates with your documentation giving your users access to both docs content and community info like discord chats and Twitter engagements etc.

THE PROBLEM

The platform started as an experimentation and then grew to an MVP. It was a developer-first approach, and this, in turn, left open holes in the user experience. We wanted to give the MVP a facelift, transforming the application into a COMMUNITY SEARCH. These were the issues we found and questions we asked.

The platform started as an experimentation and then grew to an MVP. It was a developer-first approach, and this, in turn, left open holes in the user experience. We wanted to give the MVP a facelift, transforming the application into a COMMUNITY SEARCH. These were the issues we found and questions we asked.

  • The present results were not as intuitive as possible (for both community and documentation)

  • If the users do not find what they are looking for, what do they do?

  • Since each entity has its version of community search, is there a theming possibility?

  • What is the versioning of documentation going to look like?

  • As an entity, How do I set this up (Initially, it was set up manually)?

  • How does this connect with Orbit as a whole?

  • The present results were not as intuitive as possible (for both community and documentation)

  • If the users do not find what they are looking for, what do they do?

  • Since each entity has its version of community search, is there a theming possibility?

  • What is the versioning of documentation going to look like?

  • As an entity, How do I set this up (Initially, it was set up manually)?

  • How does this connect with Orbit as a whole?

Let’s check the market !

How do we approach this design

We started by looking at a lot on the market to see what users are used to. We checked Algolia and other native docs hosting platforms to see what search they had. We were now able to decipher what we needed to do to create a standard worthy of the market.

We started by looking at a lot on the market to see what users are used to. We checked Algolia and other native docs hosting platforms to see what search they had. We were now able to decipher what we needed to do to create a standard worthy of the market.

WHAT WE CAME UP WITH

Design

DESIGN

After several iterations, we created a design that was focused on giving specific results that were intuitive. For the documentation, we had to take note of how content is structured from H1 to H2 to Body, as this would inform the hierarchy of results, this also pushed for segmentation of the various types of content. For the community, We had to carefully design the content to be less overwhelming by hiding unnecessary information and curating results and context

After several iterations, we created a design that was focused on giving specific results that were intuitive. For the documentation, we had to take note of how content is structured from H1 to H2 to Body, as this would inform the hierarchy of results, this also pushed for segmentation of the various types of content. For the community, We had to carefully design the content to be less overwhelming by hiding unnecessary information and curating results and context

How do you install this to your documentation

WHAT WE CAME UP WITH

How do you install this to your documentation

We wanted to create something simple and intuitive for the first iteration. We created a simple form that helps the user set up by generating the code to embed.

We wanted to create something simple and intuitive for the first iteration. We created a simple form that helps the user set up by generating the code to embed.

Here a flow for both scenarios

Impact and learning

Impact

  • We created a simplified setup and integration to reduce the time and effort required to deploy and maintain the platform.

  • The user-friendly interface and seamless integration capabilities make community search accessible to a wider range of users and entities, expanding its user base and increasing its market presence.

  • The platform's ability to integrate multiple data sources and customise widgets ensures it can scale to meet the needs of diverse users and organisations.

What did I learn from this?

The market position also shapes the direction of a product alongside its experience