Making it easier to get started for new users

[jankusanagi]

I'm opening this issue as a general discussion of possibilities and ideas, more than to address a particular bug.

I think we've all found people who somehow heard of Pump.io, registered an account, but couldn't figure out how to use it properly. They didn't know how to find any users or how to ask for help. Some might have posted non-public posts asking "how do I use this?", but since they didn't post that to "Public", no one "heard" them.

The welcoming message* that every new user finds in their inbox could be a lot more helpful. It could provide links to FAQs, tips, user lists, user directories (now that we have things like PPump), links to public timeline services (now that we have things like Hubub and, again, PPump). It could guide the new user to post a first "hello world" message setting it as Public, so people might see that in the public timelines. One thing that I think is already good is the "you should fill your profile and avatar" bit.

Some of that could also be applied to the front page of the web interface of Pump.io. A nice "Getting started" link there pointing to a basic guide (that we all can help write, of course) could be very helpful.

I know Pump.io isn't at a point where we can expect many "Joe Users" to join, but it's sad to see people who have created accounts and got nowhere. People could certainly show more interest and investigate a little, but still, having the info right in front of them couldn't hurt, right?.

We have plenty of interesting and helpful information written in the GitHub wiki, in our own Pump.io notes, in our blogs, etc. A lot of that could be recycled to be used as "basic guidance" in these basic places: the front page and the welcoming message.

So, what do you all think?

[*] Current welcoming message:

Welcome to $PUMPSERVERNAME! Now that you're registered, here are a few tips for enjoying yourself fully. You should modify your profile to let people know more about you. Don't forget to upload an avatar! Your account id is someone@someserver. You can use it with pump.io-enabled applications. Try it out on Open Farm Game. This message will stay in your inbox so you can refer back. Enjoy yourself and have fun.

[colegota]

+1

[jankusanagi]

BTW, related to #793

[m4rch]

+1

problem is, that there's no central point anybody could link to - pump.io/FAQ, pump.io/API, pump.io/blog, pump.io/wiki ...

at least, for a start, link to wiki: https://github.com/e14n/pump.io/wiki/, link to FAQ: https://github.com/e14n/pump.io/wiki/FAQ, link to API?

we also lost @welcomebot@identi.ca and something like an autosubscription to @admin@pumpserver where regular announcements could be posted ...

[jankusanagi]

Well, there's no need for a welcomebot, since the new users already have the welcoming message in their inboxes. But this message should be expanded with useful info.

As for a central point, you can point to the Pump.io wiki. Every other interesting piece of information is linked in there, somewhere.

What we could do is re-organize this wiki so User-facing info is at the top, instead of the scary-geeky developer info, which could be at the bottom or something.

Or we could create a sub-page on the wiki called "User guides" or something, and then link all the newcomer information there.

EDIT: I've created this stub: https://github.com/e14n/pump.io/wiki/User-Guide

[talogeta]

i have a lot of ideas. One of them is a search area ( im taklking about webUI ) or similar , where the user can find people with similars hoobies , works , other people that lives nearly... i think sotitrox is working with that. Another idea is the groups , i know there are lists , it's similar but i mean groups where the people create and then the users can become a member ( there is a project in Dianara , maybe JanKusanagi can help about that).

Well , i'm not a developer , sorry if i'm saying very difficult things , i'm only interested in help with the pump.io project and i will write here my ideas about it.

So , i like the idea of a welcome message with a useful info above mentioned , and the search area ( or #hastag ) for make a more interesting search for the user how i have mentioned. The groups like all people i think ( windows user group for example :) ) and at the moment i think no more ideas.

[jankusanagi]

@talogeta your ideas, while nice and already desired by a lot of people, are well beyond the scope of this issue. What you're asking is hard to do and there's work ongoing to have it. But that's a different topic, representing technical challenges.

What I intend to discuss in this "issue" are simple ways that we can improve the initial experience of people who are creating Pump accounts right now. Basically, showing them better documentation (note that this doesn't necessarily mean wall of text) and pointing them to the useful resources that we already have (like PPump and Hubub instances where they can already find people and content).

Let's be realistic.

[talogeta]

I mean if it's possible ( in a futue ) include that features in the webUI for a better user experiencie.

At the moment i think is a good idea a welcome message or help botton linking at docs or services like above mentioned.

[ghost]

Hello All,

I am trying to integrate pump.io in iOS development. But I am stuck with user registration/login process. I found the feeds, followers and following through this url:: https:///api/user//feed

Trying to register in iOS mobile app: https:///api/users/nickname=sam&password=sam

But bad luck. I don't know what i am missing? and please suggest me the registration process. So i can familiar with pump.io.

I found in the document of pump.io:

User registration

There is a collection of all users at the endpoint /api/users. To create a new user, POST a user representation (see below) to the list. You can also get the latest registered users by GETting the collection.

The JSON object representing the user has the following properties:

nickname: The user's nickname. 1-64 characters, including only ASCII capital and lowercase letters and numbers as well as ”-”, ”.”, and “_”. The nickname is immutable and unique per server; it can't be changed. password: The plain-text password. This isn't returned when you GET the user object, but you have to provide it when registering or updating the user. profile: a “person” object. This is created automatically when you create a new user; don't try to add it yourself. Don't update this directly; update the person through its object endpoint.

---

But don’t know how i integrate(Registration/login ) in iOS App.

Regards Shiju Varghese

[larjona]

I think it's better to split this issue in small parts, or pull requests. @jankusanagi , do you mind to propose a new text for the welcoming message?