Onboarding & help strategy

[hermwong]

The help button currently does nothing when clicked.

What should the expected behaviour be?

Currently the Help menu in the Menubar gives the users 2 menu options (tutorials & provide feedback).

[hermwong]

We could have a help dialog displaying the Tutorials & Provide feedback options in a similar manner as the Create Project / Open Existing Project dialog when the plus button is clicked.

[jahoni]

I think that what we ought to do is display the start-up/hints modal (below), with links to "Detailed tutorials" and "Provide feedback" links. This will be slightly different than the start-up modal itself, which should also contain a checkbox to "Do not show this again on start-up".

[shazron]

This code (MIT licensed) could be useful? https://github.com/mdznr/What-s-New

[mwbrooks]

The hints are nice but they need to be shorter. When I see a wall of bullets, I'll close the dialog without reading it. I don't think I'm alone in that camp.

On a side note, could we use a different glow color on the logo? I really don't like how the light blue looks. Perhaps a simple grey?

[jahoni]

@mwbrooks i disagree about the number of bullets. the goal is to be helpful, not to be short. if a user clicks on a help button, we can assume they're looking for help - which usually requires some reading on their part. these are the top hints on how to work with the app, with the option to read more in the tutorials. i've reviewed the list a number of times, and that is the least verbose I can make it. If you want to take a stab at what should be in there, please do.

i'll rework the robot.

[mwbrooks]

Ah, I thought this was the "On First Start" dialog that showed up with helpful hints. If this is the dialog shown when the user clicks help, then by all means flood them with knowledge.

Have we thrown out the idea of help dialogs around specific components?

[jahoni]

Right. So - this IS also the "show on start-up" dialog, which the user can certainly close (as well as choose not to display on start-up in the future).

Not sure I'm clear on what you mean by dialogs related to specific components..can you give an example? I don't think we've thrown anything out, at this point. : )

[mwbrooks]

Ahhh, haha, okay well my stance would be:

• As a startup dialog, there is too much information and most users will close it.
• As a help dialog, the more information the better.

I knew I was doing a poor job of describing the "specific components". I meant the ? next to various components like a input field for "server address" or checkbox for "auto-detect port". We could still document everything in the Help dialog and use targets to jump to a specific answer when a certain ? is selected. I'm sure you can think of a better design than littering the entire UI with ?'s but I think you get the point.

[jahoni]

Hmm, okay.

My approach has been to add hints to the UI in most cases already. For example from above, in the Server Dialog, there is a description of what the server port is all about. Same goes for the Create New Project dialog - a quick hint/description exists below the fields that seeks to help users understand what each is for.

Maybe I haven't captured everything I need to or what I've provided isn't helpful?

[mwbrooks]

Actually, I think that's fine. We can always elaborate on something in the help section.

[surajpindoria]

We have the docs on phonegap.com now, is this still relevant?

[jahoni]

I'd say "no", but i also don't have a clear sense of how complete the docs are.

[surajpindoria]

The docs have:

• Installation
• FAQ/Troubleshoot
• Creating a project
• Opening a project
• Active vs inactive projects
• Previewing app using developer app
• Removing a project
• Updating the app
• Editing settings
• Server logs

I am going to go ahead and close this out.