I’m excited that you’re helping us as we test designs and concepts for a new and improved myembarq.com. I hope this blog will become a gathering place and that you’ll come back often. You can check on our progress and share your ideas with our community of fellow users. And remember, the more you participate, the more your ideas can be used to help us to make a site that works for you. Read more about this blog and our test:

Rule for this blog

I’m going to do my best to keep you informed on how the test is going, share the feedback we receive, and ask you questions.  Of course, just by reading this blog, and reading other people’s comments, you’ll get a good idea of what they think too! The only rule is the Golden Rule. Please treat others as you would like to be treated. As long as everyone is polite and doesn’t use offensive language, we’ll all have fun!  Aside from that, if you like or don’t like something you see, don’t hold back! Tell it like it is!

About the Beta testing process

We’re testing this version of the site for about four weeks. At that point, we’ll take it down, make some changes, and then have a new “beta” ready to test drive.  At the end of the test, if you come back here you’ll be automatically redirected back to the original myembarq.com, so you’ll always have access to your email and information that you’ve come to enjoy.

Where’s the old myembarq.com?

No worries! It’s still living out in cyberspace where it’s always been. And you can visit whenever you want. If you prefer the classic site, simply go back to the test site, and look for the orange bar at the top of the page. Click on “Back to the classic site”. That’s it! You can switch back and forth between the test site and the original site throughout the trial. In fact, comparing the two and letting us know which features you prefer will help us with the improvements.

(And FYI, if you leave the test site and go to another Internet site, when you return “home” you’ll be brought back to the test site. On the other hand, if you’re on the original site and leave, you be brought back to the original the next time.)

What if you have problems?

• We’ve set up different channels for you depending on the kind of issues you have.
• If you have a technical problem, please click the “Help” link in the upper right-hand corner of the site.
• If you can’t access the site at all, please email me at beta@embarq.com.
• If you have a problem with your account or your HSI connection, please contact Customer Care.

These next few months are exciting for us, and I’m honestly pleased you’re a part of our development team. Keep in touch,

Ann

So what’s the plan for future sites?

On October 1, we’re going to shut down this test. Everyone will be redirected back to the classic myembarq.com. And for a couple of weeks, it will be business as usual. Everything will look and feel the same as it always has.

However, on October 17, you will notice some changes. Because of the merger between EMBARQ and CenturyTel, we have a new name: CenturyLink. You’ll begin to see our new name showing up in advertising, on billing, and on the web portal. Don’t worry, the functionality will not change. 

In the meantime, we’re continuting to develop and test all kinds of new features that we’re pretty sure will knock your socks off! We’ll be rolling them out in 2010, so stick around for the fun.

Thanks to everyone who commented on this blog! I loved getting your feedback, and it’s helped us tremendously.

Enjoy the rest of 2009, and I’ll be in touch!

Ann Welton
Communications Manager
CenturyLink Interactive Services

We know about it, and we’re working to fix it! Thanks for your feedback!

Orange you glad to see me?

I stole that from an old knock-knock joke, do you remember it? Anyway, did you notice the orange bar running across the top of the test site? I’m pretty sure you did, because that’s where you found the link to this blog. There is also a link to a private Feedback form, and a link that takes you back to the original myembarq.com. And here’s another cool feature. If you click on “How do I do that?” the bar expands, and answers the question for you. Try it!

GPS for a web site

Sometimes, there’s so much information available on a web site, that you feel as if you need a GPS device just to get around. On the classic site, there is a list that runs down the left-hand side of the page. (Web site developers call this the “Nav Bar” or navigation bar. See, you’re learning the language already!) On the test site, we’ve moved this to tabs across the top of the page.  Let me know what you think.

A communications hub

Email’s important – there’s no doubt about that! But it’s no longer the only tool we depend on to keep in touch with friends and family. Social networking sites have simply exploded in the last few years, and a lot of us find we depend on them too! We’ve designed the test site in a way that allows you to keep all your networking sites in one place. So, along with email, you’ll be just a click away from Facebook, or Twitter, or MySpace. Is this convenient for you? Will it save you some time?

More to come

We’re testing some ideas regarding the content we feature on the site. Come back in the next couple of days and read my next post. I’ll point out some things to watch for, and ask for your opinions. Until then, post a comment or two. Let’s get this conversation going!