Second Insight - Let's talk Layouts

Second Insight - Let's talk Layouts

The Wheels of Ticketing - Desk Stories

Let's talk Layouts


What are layouts?

Layouts refer to the arrangement or design of elements in a space, whether on a physical surface, like a room or a piece of furniture, or in digital contexts, such as web pages or graphic designs. 
InfoUser interface layout: In software design, various interface elements, such as buttons, forms, and menus, are arranged to create an efficient and user-friendly experience. 
Layouts control how fields and related sections are organized on a department's module page. Each department can have its own design, which includes a combination of default and custom fields. These layouts dictate which fields are visible, read-only, and required.
 
Customer support agents need specific information to handle tickets for different products or processes effectively. As a result, help desks frequently incorporate multiple custom fields into the ticket forms that customers complete. This may lead to customers facing irrelevant fields that don't apply to their specific issues. The most effective solution to this confusion is to create and use an appropriate layout.

How can you benefit from using layouts?

Layouts are used in a wide range of software applications and platforms to enhance communication and user experience.
 
In Zoho Desk, you can use layouts to tailor the fields on module pages like Tickets and Tasks. The drag-and-drop feature enables you to add new fields easily, remove unnecessary ones, and rearrange fields to match your preferences. 

Key functions of a layout: 

  • Visual hierarchy: Clarifies the significance of various elements and directs the viewer's attention to the essential information.
  • Readability: Enhances the clarity and legibility of text and images, making it easier for the audience to digest the content.
  • Aesthetic appeal: Creates an attractive design that engages users and encourages them to interact with the content.
  • Consistency: This ensures a uniform look and feel across different pages or sections, which helps with branding and recognition.
  • Navigation: Facilitates user navigation by organizing content logically and allowing users to find information quickly and intuitively.
  • Functionality: Supports the intended function of the design, whether to inform, persuade, entertain, or provide a service.
Quote
A well-designed layout is crucial for effective communication and user engagement in any visual medium. 

A story for better interpretation of layouts

The Perfect Layout - A Tech Story

At Heaven Solutions, a bustling tech company, they proudly call their help desk software 'Heaven Desk'. It was the go-to place for agents facing tech troubles, but the overall situation was chaotic. The desks were cluttered, information was scattered, and the agent teams were overwhelmed with requests.
 
Ross, a bright and passionate senior tech support, was part of the help desk team. He loved helping others but often found himself frustrated when navigating through heaps of information to assist his team. One day, while dealing with a particularly perplexing issue, he had a revelation: the team needed structure to tame the chaos!
 
Inspired, Ross gathered his team for a brainstorming session. “What if we redesigned our help desk layout?” he suggested. The team was intrigued but skeptical. “How can a layout make a difference?” one seasoned tech support asked. 
 
Ross smiled and began to explain: “Let’s think of it this way: a well-organized layout can guide users to find solutions quickly. It can reduce confusion, streamline processes, and enhance productivity.” 
 
The team's curiosity was piqued, and they experimented with Ross's idea. They mapped out ideas on a whiteboard and discussed different elements of a successful help desk layout. 
  • Categorization: They categorized issues into clear sections—hardware, software, network, and general inquiries. This way, users could quickly find the category relevant to their problem. 
  • Search functionality: Ross proposed implementing a robust search feature on their help desk platform. Users could type in keywords or phrases, making finding solutions more manageable.
  • Visible layout: The team agreed that a cleaner, visually appealing design would help declutter the experience. They envisioned a layout with ample white space, easy navigation buttons, and tabs representing different categories.


  • FAQ guides: Recognizing that many questions were often repeated, they created an easily accessible FAQ section and a library of troubleshooting guides. This would empower agents to solve minor issues independently.


  • Quick feedback: They incorporated a feedback mechanism where users could rate their experience after each interaction, allowing continuous improvement based on user input.

Excited about their ideas, the team presented the new layout to their manager. To their delight, he loved the vision and approved the redesign. With everyone's input, they built the new Heaven help desk. When they launched the redesigned help desk, it was like transforming a maze into a designated path.


On the first day after the launch, Ross was buzzing with anticipation. As employees began using the new layout, he watched their faces light up. Help desk requests decreased as many users could now find what they needed through the FAQs and guides. The search functionality quickly became a hit, with colleagues excited about how quickly they could resolve issues.
 
Because of their collaborative effort, the help desk now serves as a support system and empowers employees to help themselves. The structured layout improved efficiency and user satisfaction, proving that a thoughtful design could transform chaos into clarity.
 
In the end, the purpose of layouts became clear: they weren't merely about aesthetics; they were powerful tools that guided users, reduced frustration, and ensured a seamless experience. Through Ross's idea and the team's collaboration, Heaven Desk became a model help desk, demonstrating that a little structure could lead to immense success.

Takeaway

A well-designed layout organizes information and resources in a coherent way and makes the system intuitive and easy to use, which reduces frustration and improves user satisfaction. It ensures that users can find what they need quickly and efficiently, whether it involves accessing a knowledge base, submitting a ticket, or tracking the status of their request. 

Please stay tuned for more Desk Module stories.

 

Cheers,


Kavya Rao

The Zoho Desk Team


      • Recent Topics

      • Facturation électronique 2026 - obligation dès le 1er septembre 2026

        Bonjour, Je me permets de réagir à divers posts publiés ici et là concernant le projet de E-Invoicing, dans le cadre de la facturation électronique prévue très prochainement. Dans le cadre du passage à la facturation électronique pour les entreprises,

      • Introducing AI Modeler—a no-code approach to adding AI to your business applications

        Forward-thinking businesses today are embracing AI to make life easier for themselves, their employees, and their customers. But if you haven't started yet, you might be concerned that your business will be left behind. Or maybe you're worried because

      • Tip #20 - Three things you probably didn't know you can do with picklists

        Hello Zoho Sheet users! We’re back with another quick tip to help you make your spreadsheets smarter. Picklists are a great tool to maintain consistency in your spreadsheet. Manually entering data is time-consuming and often leaves typos and irregular

      • Zoho People how do i view the history of leave taken

        Hi All What is the report that i am unable to view the history of the leave taken for an individual and team?

      • UK Registration for VAT with existing stock/inventory

        We have an existing inventory of stock and are investigating how to handle the conversion from a UK VAT unregistered company to a UK VAT registered company. Enabling VAT registered status looks extremely easy, but we cannot find any way within Books to

      • Trigger action after workflow

        I would like to trigger a deluge function after the approval workflow is complete. Is this possible? The objective is to take the approved document and move it over to Zoho Contracts to send out to our customer for review and signature. The reason we

      • Is it possible to create a meeting in Zoho Crm which automatically creates a Google Meet link?

        We are using Google's own "Zoho CRM for Google" integration and also Zoho's "Google Apps Sync" tools, but none of them provide us with the ability to create a meeting in Zoho CRM that then adds a Google Meet link into the meeting. Is this something that

      • Unable To Enable Google Calendar Sync

        Hi Folks, I am unable to enable google calendar sync. I get Internal Error, Problem Occurred Internally. Screenshot attached. How do I solve this?

      • Export to Zoho CRM Not Triggering Workflow Rules

        Hello, I have set up an automated export from DataPrep to Leads in CRM but none of my Workflow Rules are triggering once the leads are created. The Timeline history is completely empty in every lead. How can I fix this issue? Do I need to set up a Schedule

      • 【Zoho Projects】サンドボックス機能（テスト環境）リリースのお知らせ

        本投稿は、本社のZoho コミュニティに投稿された以下の記事を参照し作成したものです。 Sandbox - Your Secure Testing Space in Zoho Projects ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。コミュニティチームの中野です。 本投稿では、Zoho Projects のサンドボックス機能リリースについてご紹介します。 サンドボックス（テスト環境）とは？ Zoho Projects の「サンドボックス」は、新たな設定を作成、検証、そして既存の処理を妨げることなく本番環境に適用することができるテスト環境です。

      • Sending from domain alias

        In the Control Panel/Domains, I have set up some domains as aliases for my main domain. Only my main domain has mail hosting. The other domains are verified as aliases for the main domain, and emails sent to <user>@<alias domain> arrive successfully at

      • Difficult to Purchase More users

        It's surprisingly difficult and un-intuitive to purchase more user licenses in Zoho One under the new UI. It's not actually possible to do it anywhere from the admin interface. You have to leave the admin/directory section, then click your profile icon,

      • How to link web sales payments through Stripe to invoices?

        I have just set up an online shop website which accepts payments through Stripe.  The payment appears in Zoho Books through the Stripe feed as 'Sales without invoices'.  In order to keep Zoho Inventory in step, I manually (for now) create a Sales Invoice

      • Announcing New Features in Trident for macOS (v.1.22.0)

        Hello everyone! Trident for macOS (v.1.22.0) is here with thoughtful updates to improve your daily workflow. Here's a quick look at what's new. Switch email response type easily. You can now switch between Reply, Reply All, and Forward directly in the

      • Layout Rules / Quick create

        Hello, is there a way to create a layout rule for quick create option? Regards, Katarzyna

      • Zoho Notebook Will Not Open After App Install

        I am a new user of Notebook. I was able to successfully import my data from Evernote and the product is working well on a Windows 11 computer and Pixel device. I have also installed Notebook on a Samsung S6 lite tablet however the software freezes on

      • Leads, contacts, deals table view is not sorting

        i am unable to sort the table view of leads, contacts and deals

      • Conditional Layouts On Multi Select Field

        How we can use Conditional Layouts On Multi Select Field field? Please help.

      • Zoho CRM Multi-select values not translated

        Hello! I have some issue with translate custom multi-select fields in zoho CRM in other language. I download export file, but it has all my custom fields and picklist values exept multi-select fields picklist values.  Please, help me to undestand, is

      • Unable to Download Invoices via API – Code 57 Authorization Error

        I’m integrating the Zoho Billing API with the scopes ZohoInvoice.invoices.CREATE,ZohoInvoice.invoices.READ. I’ve completed the OAuth2 flow successfully, including generating the auth code, access token, and refresh token. All tokens are valid and fresh.

      • Weekly Tips : Stay in loop with Conversation View

        You receive a series of emails back and forth with a client regarding a project update. Instead of searching through your inbox for each separate email, you would want to see the entire email conversation in one place to understand the context quickly

      • Introducing Zoho PDF Editor: Your free online PDF editing tool

        Edit your PDFs effortlessly with Zoho PDF Editor, Zoho's new free online PDF editing tool. Add text, insert images, include shapes, embed hyperlinks, and even transform your PDFs into fillable forms to collect data and e-signatures. You can edit PDFs

      • RSC Connectivity Linkedin Recruiter RPS

        It seems there's a bit of a push from Linkedin Talent Solutions to keep integrations moving. My Account Manager confirmed that Zoho Recruit is a Certified Linkedin Linkedin Partner but does not have RSC as of yet., (we knew that :-) She encouraged me

      • Water-Scrum-Fall approach for finance institutions with Zoho Projects Plus

        Finance is a highly regulated sector with strict rules and compliance requirements. Handling sensitive client data and complex transactions like multi-currency deals requires elaborate workflows and precise management. Implementing project management

      • Get instant summaries of your notes with the help of Zia

        Hello all, We've added a simple yet powerful feature to Zoho CRM that we're excited for you to try: Zia Notes Summary. It's designed to make the daily lives of a CRM user a bit easier by giving you quick summaries of your CRM notes. Whether it's a glance

      • Zoho one web page are not available

        Why I am not able to enter to zoho one web page?

      • Zoho People > Onboarding > Candidate do not view all the data field on the Employee Onboarding

        Hello In my onboarding portal I do not see all the fields that i want the candidate to fill in In my Employee Onboarding Form These details i can see In the work information, i have enable the Company View but in the Employee Portal i do not see I have

      • Has anyone implemented a ""switch"" to redirect emails in production for testing?

        Hi everyone, In our production Zoho CRM we have a fairly complex setup with multiple Blueprints and Deluge functions that send emails automatically — to managers and internal staff — triggered by workflows. We’re looking for a way to *test changes safely*,

      • Restrict Access/Shared Access

        Sometimes access to documents that go out from Zoho Sign need to be restricted or shared. For example: 1) HR department send out employment contracts. Any Zoho Sign admin can view them. Access should be restricted to those that HR would allow to view

      • Tip#44: Integrate with Xero to manage your financial operations

        Managing your project finances becomes more efficient with Xero integration in Zoho Sprints. With this integration, you can sync your Zoho Sprints data with Xero. Once you sync them to Xero, you can easily create invoices in Xero. This feature significantly

      • Zoho People Onboarding Unable to Convert to User

        Hello All I need help in this onboarding of candidate Currently at this stage the candidate is just being offered and we are filling in his details however not all information are fill up. The candidate is still using his/her personal email When i try

      • Integration with SharePoint Online

        Is there an integration where we can add a Zoho Sign link to the context menu of a document in the SharePoint document library. Then, we could directly initiate a workflow of sending a document for signature from a document library in SharePoint onl

      • White screen when connecting Zoho Cliq and Zoho People for birthday notifications

        Hi everyone, I'm new to Zoho and I'm trying to set up the employee birthday notifications, following this guide: Automating Employee Birthday Notifications in Zoho Cliq But when I try to connect Zoho Cliq with Zoho People, I just get a white screen and

      • Word file is messed up when i upload it to zoho sign

        Hi. I am trying to upload a word file to zoho sign and when i do that it ruins the file, It adds spaces and images are on top of each other. What can i do? Thanks.

      • Annotate widget?

        Is there something in creator or any zoho app that allows me to have an image markup field item in the form? I need to be able to complete a form that also allows the user to mark up a preloaded image. Other compay's call this an image markup field or

      • Dashboards / Home Page - Logged In User

        Lots of the dashboards that we use reference the Logged In User.  We also set up Home Pages for specific roles, where the Logged In User is referenced within the custom view.  As an admin, that means that these views are often blank when customizing and

      • I'm pissed as fuck

        What the hell Zoho! Always the same goddam problem. It takes time because the simplest things just don't fucking work. Today it just took me 3 hours to complete and send a 1page privacy letter to a client. And you know what 99% of the document was already

      • Configure Notifications for API Limit

        Hello developers, APIs are essential for businesses today as they enable seamless integration between different software systems, automate workflows, and ensure real-time data sync. To ensure that admins are notified well in advance before APIs reach

      • Introducing Blueprints for Custom Modules!

        Hello developers, We've added a new feature called Blueprints in Custom Modules. Blueprints are the online representation of a business process. In Zoho Books, you can use Blueprints to design a process flow using states and transitions. Developers can

      • Campaign Links Blocked as Phishing- Help!

        We sent a Campaign out yesterday. We tested all of the links beforehand. One of the links is to our own website. After the fact, when we open up the Campaign in our browser, the links work fine. The links in the emails received, however, opened in a new

      • Next Page