Add a "edit profile" button on own user card and own user header

[jtbayly]

I think it would make sense to add a button to edit what shows up on your own usercard while viewing your own usercard. It’s not at all intuitive to find out how to change that info, and it requires several clicks. Here’s a mockup of what I’m suggesting:

Without it, the most obvious thing to do is to click your name, which takes you to your “activity” page, which still requires two more clicks (the first one not at all obvious) to get to where you can edit the info. So I’m also suggesting adding a button on the user header like so:

This seems like it would be having the right options in the “right place.” When do people get the inspiration to update their profile? When they’re looking at it. Let’s make it easy.

[codinghorror (Jeff Atwood)]

Why would you be viewing your own user card? Don’t you already know everything on it?

[jtbayly]

Not if you’re a new user. If you’re a new user just figuring out how things work, you’ll click on somebody else’s and wonder what is on yours and click on it. Or you’ll just be clicking around and notice it is a link, so you’ll click on it. Same reason you’ll click on your profile picture on the top right. Just to figure out what it does. And that’s the perfect time to put the button in front of them to modify that info.

(edited to add: at least, that’s what I did. And have done several times since when trying to update my profile and having no idea where to go to edit it.)