Session recording has been a staple in the security and monitoring of environments for years. Recording a user’s session to see their activity and fix and prevent issues has given admins the insights to keep their users safe and productive. But as Citrix continued to innovate on this feature, the user interface (UI) left a bit to be desired. Admins were looking for an interface that was simple yet robust, and the Citrix Session Recording team wanted to find a solution to common pain points. Enter the web player for Citrix’s Session Recording.
In the previous releases of Session Recording, the UI console player had limited space to add new capabilities. After conducting several surveys on admins’ pain points while using the legacy console, we found that we could help enhance productivity and improve overall effectiveness with a new console. With Session Recording 1909, we’ve focused on designing a unified experience to simplify Session Recording for our end users.
We’re excited to introduce the new Session Recording web player, which offers more intuitive filters and a web player and helps users find target recordings/timeframes efficiently and accurately. It’s now available as a tech preview. Please refer the Citrix Product Documentation site for instructions on installing and configuring the web player.
Let’s dive into what you’ll find in our first Session Recording web player release!
Delivering a Unified Experience
Before redesigning the Session Recording UI console, we surveyed customers to understand pain points around the old console.
One bit of feedback we got was that Session Recording admins didn’t have features they needed to be productive within a single console. Session Recording consisted of several standalone components, which users had to switch among as they worked. With Session Recording web player, we’re offering a unified experience that’s easy to access. Now you can enable configurations, search, play recordings, and more, all within a unified web console (click the image below for a larger view).
An Efficient Search Filter
One of the highlights of this release, the new search filter helps users find the recording files they’re looking for. IT admins are the primary users of Session Recording, but we know that some of our end-user groups — like auditing department personnel, for example — might not have a technical background.
Our challenge was to create a full-featured search filter that was robust but also intuitive enough to deliver value to users without technical backgrounds. The new Session Recording makes that possible by offering the search filter in the UI. Session Recording web player users can choose multiple search criteria such as host name, application name, session event type in the same page (click the image below for a larger view).
Improved Playback Experience
To help users track specific events within a recording, we’ve incorporated an event-capture feature that identifies user activities and tags various types of events automatically. For example, if you look for events that records activity related to App Start, you can click Filters and select App Start and see related results.
In addition to the refreshed look and feel of the UI, we’ve listed all events on the right side of the screen, which enables users to easily and efficiently search for an event type. For example, If you’re looking for browsing activities or a specific application launch, simply choose the “Event Type” on the right panel of web player UI (click the image below for a larger view).
A Visually Appealing UI
Let’s face it, an unappealing UI detracts from the user experience. Not only are we introducing new Session Recording features with this release, we’re unveiling a new look and feel. We’ve given the Session Recording web player a visual refresh, with updates to colors and fonts and with new icons to help guide users, delivering a more enjoyable user experience (click the image below for a larger view).
Share Your Feedback, Ask Questions
We’re excited about the innovations in this new release, but there’s more to come! Please share your feedback, questions, or suggestions in this Podio web form.
