We’re excited to introduce the latest enhancement in Commons: the List View. Until now, Commons offered only a card view—an image-focused way to browse resources. However, we’ve heard your feedback loud and clear: many of you crave a cleaner, more compact view that prioritizes information over imagery. With the new List View, you now have the option to toggle between card and list formats to suit your browsing preferences, which will be saved until you use the same browser.
Why the Change?
Our recent research and conversations with Commons users revealed a clear trend: while card view works well for those who find visual thumbnails useful, many users felt that it often created sensory overload, making content harder to scan - or not needed at all. As a result, the card view occasionally hindered efficient navigation through resources.
By introducing a List View, Commons aims to provide a more modest, detail-oriented browsing experience that helps users locate materials faster, reducing the time spent searching and enabling a more seamless educational content experience.
Key Benefits of the New List View
- Clarity and Focus: With less emphasis on images, List View allows you to focus on resource titles and metadata, so you can quickly identify relevant materials without visual distractions.
- Increased Efficiency: The more compact layout fits more items per page, reducing the need for scrolling and helping you locate resources at a glance. We also introduced pagination instead of the ‘Load more’ button.
- Customizable View: You can now toggle effortlessly between card and list views based on your preferences and the type of search or browsing you’re conducting.
- Flexible Sorting: List View now includes sorting options, so you can organize resources by criteria such as Author, Last updated, number of favorites, number of downloads, —ensuring you can always find what you need, how you need it.
- Saving time: Marking a resource as favorite is now available without clicking into the resource first. Simply click on the star icon to add as a favorite or remove from favorites.
Try It Out in Beta Today!
The new List View is available in beta starting October 21. Simply look for the toggle switch within Commons beta to try it out and see firsthand how it enhances your browsing experience. Production release is set for November 16.
What’s Next?
We’re not stopping here! Coming in January, quick-action buttons will be added directly within List View, allowing you to share and download resources without needing to open each item individually. For resource owners editing and deleting a resource will be a quick option too within the List View. This enhancement will save you even more time and make it easier to organize and utilize content across your Commons library.
We’re thrilled to bring you this update, designed in response to the feedback and needs of our Commons community. Stay tuned for more improvements and, as always, keep the feedback coming. Your insights drive the Commons experience forward.
Best,
The Commons Team
