intro / loading data into rstudio.reed.edu

[RhoBott]

Under "Uploading data to the Reed Rstudio server" the page currently reads:

You can now load the data into R in the same way you would if you were working with data stored on your computer with the desktop version of R. See our loading data page for more information.

Two questions:

1. do you think that is sufficiently clear as an explanation for this page
2. is the information on the linked page sufficiently clear, imagining a naive/novice user?

Take a look + discuss below, I'll review inputs end of day on Tuesday 2021/10/26.

[anaqb]

The loading data link takes you to the from a .csv_ page. Which is great but it is not super clear that there are other options if you click directly on that link from this page. Maybe we can do it so it takes you back to the main R page but scrolled down to the Loading Data section? or something to guide them to that section so they see all the options of loading data.

Also, I think what this is trying to say is that you can load it onto your environment the same as on the desktop once you have uploaded it to the server, so making that difference clear will hopefully get rid of any confusion!

more detailed feedback in the third step, where it says "navigate to the folder (on the server) where you want to store your data", it is a bit confusing if you are new user. Mainly because before that, there is no place that tells you how to create a new folder (I know it is right there but maybe adding something just before this sentence that says "create a folder for your project! here is how...".

This maybe is more specific and possibly not a big deal but if you have opened R before, it will automatically take you to the last folder you went to instead of the home page for Files, so maybe adding a comment about making sure you are in the right place so you don't add folders to projects that are not related.

[zolli22]

I agree with Ana's more detailed feedback - navigating the server can be confusing, and if we truly want to have instructions for the most novice user, maybe we should add an "intro to RStudio/the server" section where we outline what the different panels/tabs/windows are in RStudio, what they do, and where they are? and then, additional info about file paths, creating folders, making sure you know where you are, setting a working directory maybe?

food for thought.

on the main question though: navigating back to the main page does seem to make the most sense, since we have 4 different pages for loading data, and I think it would be messy if we were to link all 4 separately.

[avawillis]

I definitely second (third?) the idea of adding in some info about folder creation after the "locate the files pane" step. Otherwise, I think this process is explained clearly.

Maybe instead of saying "See our loading data page", it may be more helpful to say something along the lines of: "For more information on this topic, see the posts under the 'Loading Data' section of the R tutorials page" -- and then have a link back to the main R tutorials page as Ana & Ingrid both already suggested.

also: I really like Ingrid's idea of having an "intro to RStudio/the server" section!

[RhoBott]

@zolli22 can you pick this up + draft some proposed edits?

[RhoBott]

... and suddenly we are talking about a whole new page with a wealth of additional information! this is exciting; i am absolutely all for complete documentation.

i am also a huge fan of small steps and iterating (any other devotees of the stepwise mutation model? ... no? ... right. population genetics nerd... i digress)

so! proposal here: while we work out what a big content add + partial restructuring looks like (#82 ), i would like to have what i think could be a fairly minor edit made to the _loading data pages that describes to people how to load data onto the server.

imagine that your audience is completely new here, and has been told to take a CSV and use it on rstudio.reed.edu -- -- give them the information that they need to do that. (1. upload file to rstudio.reed.edu (specifics) 2. import into environment (specifics) 3. (anything else relevant?) 4. success!)

ingrid has started this (see commit above)!

going to kick this small add to the loading pages to a combo of @zolli22 and @avawillis based on this week's shifts, and then we as a team can continue noodling on the larger issue #82

[joshyam-k]

closing for now