Detect first time user and display help message

[dovej]

We should have some sort of help message for new users, both new to zephyr and new to Roost. This would be cool to display predictively, maybe based on what subs the person has (if they are only subbed to the defaults), or by some separate "new user" flag that detects first time use.

[jrafidi]

We can actually break this down into two cases:

• User has starting set of Zephyr subs
• User has more subs, but never been to Roost

For the first one, we may want to link them to some explanation of what Zephyr is. For both cases, we should orient them to how Roost works.

Questions I have then are:

• What is the starting set of subs that everyone has at first?
• Do we have an online resource we typically can point to for an explanation of how Zephyr works?

[cesium12]

By default, you are subbed to operations,message,* and either message,*,%me% or message,{personal,urgent},%me% (I'm not sure; it may depend on version).

If there's a canonical zephyr intro, it's probably http://sipb.mit.edu/doc/zephyr/

On Sat, Jul 26, 2014 at 3:09 PM, Joey Rafidi notifications@github.com wrote:

We can actually break this down into two cases:

• User has starting set of Zephyr subs
• User has more subs, but never been to Roost

For the first one, we may want to link them to some explanation of what Zephyr is. For both cases, we should orient them to how Roost works.

Questions I have then are:

• What is the starting set of subs that everyone has at first?
• Do we have an online resource we typically can point to for an explanation of how Zephyr works?

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/roost-im/roost-client/issues/82#issuecomment-50245611 .

~132.905~

[cesium12]

(Well. Technically I believe the zephyr server is allowed to set whatever default subs it wants. For MIT's servers it's the set I mentioned above, though. There's a function ZSubscribeToSansDefaults in zephyr/zephyr.h that will sub you without adding those defaults, so new users would have an empty list. summon andersk?)

(Other zephyr documentation includes http://www.mit.edu/afs/sipb/project/doc/izephyr/html/izephyr.html http://web.mit.edu/nelhage/Public/ibarnowl.html http://kb.mit.edu/confluence/display/istcontrib/Zephyr+on+Athena )

On Sat, Jul 26, 2014 at 3:41 PM, Alan H cesium12@gmail.com wrote:

By default, you are subbed to operations,message,* and either message,*,%me% or message,{personal,urgent},%me% (I'm not sure; it may depend on version).

If there's a canonical zephyr intro, it's probably http://sipb.mit.edu/doc/zephyr/

On Sat, Jul 26, 2014 at 3:09 PM, Joey Rafidi notifications@github.com wrote:

We can actually break this down into two cases:

• User has starting set of Zephyr subs
• User has more subs, but never been to Roost

For the first one, we may want to link them to some explanation of what Zephyr is. For both cases, we should orient them to how Roost works.

Questions I have then are:

• What is the starting set of subs that everyone has at first?
• Do we have an online resource we typically can point to for an explanation of how Zephyr works?

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/roost-im/roost-client/issues/82#issuecomment-50245611 .

~132.905~

~132.905~

[jrafidi]

I only implemented the "new to Roost" case, and the first section of the help box links to the sipb zephyr doc.

[dovej]

What help screen does it display? Just the hotkey window which now has a link to the sipb docs? Whatever it displays should be recallable for not-new-users too.

[jrafidi]

The help screen is actually an explanation about Roost and some of the features available. It's visible under the "Help" section of the new settings menu (in git, not pushed to roost-test). In the general section of the menu, you can even check a box that says "Show First Run", which will reset the "first run" flag on your account (in case you want the help to magically come up again). Really, that checkbox was for testing purposes and in the case that we come up with some more interesting first run experience.

[jrafidi]

The full text is copied below and is obviously open for changes. I wrote it in like 5 minutes so there may even be typos. Someone REALLY should write this properly and I'll change it, or just change the content themselves (in HelpView.hbs):

Welcome to Roost Roost is a web client for reading Zephyr messages, sending Zephyr messages, and managing Zephyr subscriptions. Roost also offers numerous features beyond traditional Zephyr clients, while maintaining many of the original characteristics of Barnowl.

New to Zephyr If you are new to Zephyr, we recommend you read this introduction. [a link would normally be here]

Message Panes The most notable new feature presented in Roost is the concept of message panes. Instead of having one stream of messages to narrow into/out of, Roost provides an interface for having multiple streams of messages with their own class/instance/recipient filters. Each message pane has its own compose area and retains selected message state. The state of your panes will persist across sessions and devices.

Hotkeys Roost implements hotkeys similar to Barnowl, while adding additional shortcuts for the newer features presented. You can view the full hotkey list in the Hotkeys section of this window.

Stark Marks When two messages in a pane were sent with a sufficient time gap, Roost generates a break point known as a stark mark. This mark can help readers process conversations as separate entities or notice when a new participant to a conversation has "starked".

Mobile/Tablet Support When accessed on a mobile device, Roost properly scales down to a convenient mobile size. When accessed on a tablet, Roost will operate in the same way as in a web browser.

[dovej]

Awesome. Definitely worth adding a link to the github too, but == on this being a whole project in and of itself for someone to work on. This is above and beyond for a first pass. I think k_sunter was interested in this, so she might be interested in sprucing it up.