Create a convincing "hello world" trace analysis example

[ebugden]

When a new user opens the tool they should be greeted with a convincing simple trace analysis example that demonstrates communicates the tool's core goals (ex. important features). This helps new users quickly answer the question "Is this tool right for my use case?"

The current Gitpod demo is insufficient because it does not guide a new user directly to a demonstration of the tool's value and core use case. To leave a good first impression, it's important that users don't feel confused about what to do next when they open the tool.

What value should be demonstrated?

Do show users the analytical power of this specific tool. Show users powerful analytical features (ex. being able to merge and synchronize several traces and analyze them as one (experiments), critical path analysis, etc.). Show why Trace Compass users should switch to this tool.

Don't focus on convincing users that trace analysis is valuable (Don't focus on convincing them that there is useful insight that only tracing can provide). At this point in development, the current user base is mostly Trace Compass users so we can assume they're already convinced of the importance of trace analysis.

In the future, if this tool is advertised as a way for newbies to get into tracing, then demonstrating the value of trace analysis will be more important. For now this question can be avoided since it's probably difficult to answer concisely; the true value of tracing becomes apparent when it's the only tool that can solve a problem (ex. complicated timing-based issues).

What could a trace analysis "hello world" look like?

Prerequisite: Choose a simple example trace that shows the unique strengths of both trace analysis and of the trace viewer (ex. Critical path analysis on the ubuntu package manager to find useless idle loop. I remember Michel Dagenais showing this in a presentation a couple years back and found it cool.)

Option 1: Guided pop-up demo (ideal)

Similar to a game tutorial, a series of pop-ups guides the user through analysis of a simple trace. The user is taught the core trace viewer "mechanics" (ex. selecting an analysis, trace navigation, filtering, etc.) and basic analysis steps. At the end of the demo the user discovers a piece of information in the trace (ex. The root cause of a latency).

• Advantages:
  • Value shown explicitly: Less risk of a user missing the tool's value since you lead them right to it and spell it out for them.
  • Less intimidating: The user is shown new information gradually which avoids intimidating or overwhelming them. Because of this, the demo can be more complex than just an example layout where the user has to explore on their own.
  • High user confidence: The user also comes out with a basic knowledge of the tool and ready to explore other possibilities.
• Disadvantages: More time consuming and complicated to implement.

Option 2: Introductory example layout (simpler)

A prebuilt layout automatically opens the first time the user tries the tool. It shows core analyses that the user can explore and interact with. Maybe a pop-up encourages the user to look for the root of the latency issue in the loaded trace example.

• Advantages: Easier to implement than the previous option.
• Disadvantages: Requires more exploration effort from the user. More difficult to engage the user. All information is presented at once so the demo would need to be more conservative with its teaching goals to avoid overwhelming the user.

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CC: @ssmagula

[MatthewKhouzam]

@arfio I think you were working on something like this.. is this the case?

[arfio]

Kind of, I had spoken about getting user to tracing with a tool that was already installed on most distros. ftrace was mentioned but that is all. Now that Trace Compass supports ftrace, it would be interesting to either add a tutorial on tracevizlab and/or linking this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujLGKdgKBC4