Timeline for We're rolling out a new "Quick Start" guide to help new users learn the basics
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
14 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 27, 2013 at 9:58 | history | made wiki | Post Made Community Wiki by Yi Jiang | ||
| Jan 15, 2013 at 11:22 | comment | added | Benjol | @RobertCartaino, but, what ben said, if it's not supposed to be interactive, it shouldn't interact at all (animations on mouseover, etc). Just make it an image (I know, more work, but...) | |
| Jan 12, 2013 at 18:02 | comment | added | Robert Cartaino | @benisuǝqbackwards I'm actually all for helpful tool tips or popups to avoid UI confusion, but the crux of this suggestion is to turn this simplified getting-started guide into an interactive simulation that would <quote> "show how the examples would react when you ... vote, favorite, accept, tag, edit posts, etc." You'd be surprise how many people stumble into these things and try and answer example questions ... and become absolutely indignant when the system doesn't, ahem... work. | |
| Jan 12, 2013 at 11:58 | comment | added | ben is uǝq backwards | I understand your concern @Robert. But :-), the buttons appear like they can be clicked (which I like); when you do so nothing happens, which might be a slightly confusing UX. I don't think you need to add anything else to explain what is happening as right at the top is the explanation: "Good answers are voted up and rise to the top.". A new user sees a up arrow, which it looks clickable and an explanation saying that they can "vote up" yet when they do so nothing happens. I understand that it's not the purpose but I think it completes it. P.S. I really like the page! | |
| Jan 11, 2013 at 20:09 | comment | added | casperOne Mod | @RobertCartaino You should enable click heatmaps for that page then analyse the data, looking at people not logged into the site, or very new, or don't match the ips of non-new users to see if there are people who are clicking on it. | |
| Jan 11, 2013 at 18:19 | comment | added | Robert Cartaino | @benisuǝqbackwards Yikes. That's a lot of info and learning-curve crammed in up front. A new user isn't as "conditioned" as to what to click on... and why. So, to make it a functional part of the first-time user experience, we'd have to add a lot of prompts and explanation to describe everything that can happen in that interface. That's not the purpose of that page, and faking some sort of actual functionality would be confusing. Just-in-time learning is about learning about this stuff when they really need it on the site itself... when it counts — not cramming it all into one page. | |
| Jan 11, 2013 at 9:17 | comment | added | ben is uǝq backwards | I disagree @Jeff. The first thing I did when I saw the up/down vote arrows was try to click on them. That may be because you've brainwashed me to click on arrows but if a potential new user comes in and tries the same thing isn't it better that they see something happen? | |
| Jan 11, 2013 at 6:06 | comment | added | Jeff Atwood | I think that'd be confusing. The interactive version of this quick start is to simply start using the actual site. Anything else puts you in a weird "am I on the real site, or some Twilight Zone parody of it" state and seems outside the scope of a quick start guide. | |
| Jan 10, 2013 at 21:03 | comment | added | RivieraKid | Precisely - and as you say, what better way to get people hooked than to show them what they can get if they put in a little effort? | |
| Jan 10, 2013 at 21:00 | comment | added | casperOne Mod | @RivieraKid It's like you want to play with it without any repercussions, am I right? | |
| Jan 10, 2013 at 20:59 | comment | added | RivieraKid | Great suggestion - I already tried clicking, and I know how the site works. | |
| Jan 10, 2013 at 18:03 | history | edited | casperOneMod | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 25 characters in body
|
| Jan 10, 2013 at 17:56 | comment | added | ben is uǝq backwards | That, sir, is a brilliant idea! | |
| Jan 10, 2013 at 17:36 | history | answered | casperOneMod | CC BY-SA 3.0 |