Hi, sorry for the late reply. See comments below On Sunday 05 August 2007 00:42, Pascal Bleser wrote: > I'd like to voice some concerns I have about the new susegreeter in 10.3. > > The background is that a few folks on IRC (including me) have been > trying to push the idea of having a one-click icon on the desktop to get > onto the #suse channel on freenode. > We do think that it would be a valuable way for new users to get help > from the community. > > What happened (unfortunately somewhat behind the scenes, which is why > this email might seem a bit late) is that the concept was expanded to > the following: > 1) add such links to susegreeter, which is the big shiny "welcome to > opensuse" window that is started when you first log in > 2) not only link to #suse but also to the wiki, mailing-lists, forums, SDB > 3) add a desktop icon to start susegreeter at a later point in time, not > just on first login > 4) for IRC, link to #opensuse instead of #suse -- #opensuse is currently > just a redirect to #suse and would add an additional safety net just in > case > > Here's a mockup of the current implementation: > http://developer.kde.org/~binner/SUSEgreeter/ General idea behind that is to link the project better with the distrbution. Therfor we think covering several aspects is a good thing. > > While the above is fine and a good idea, luckily not everything is bad ;-) > I think the current > implementation (as of alpha7) is not very good, for the following reasons: > * the text is too cluttered, and I'm not sure whether using underlined > links are clear enough to unexperienced users (yeah, everyone knows the > web and hyperlinks, but still) I don't see the links an issue > * the text is not "action oriented", which is pretty much what everyone > agrees on is the better alternative in terms of usability > > What would be more effective (and easier to comprehend) would be to use > action oriented bullet points (or similar), e.g.: > > ======================================================================== > The openSUSE community are helpful people. There are several ways to get > in touch with other community members, such as forums, mailing lists and > internet chat (IRC). On the openSUSE wiki there are also HOWTOs and > other documentation. The first place to look for help is our support > database. > * get real-time support from the community using IRC chat > * subscribe to support mailing-lists and get help from our very large > user base > * ask questions and/or search for answers in our communities' forums > * search for information and help in our wiki articles and howtos > * search our Support Database (SDB) for existing workarounds Right, call to action looks better. ccing Karl as he's doing the translation coordination. I don't know how far he's already on the greeter and if there is time for change now. > ======================================================================== > (each of the * being links that trigger the respective action) > (.. and whatever the order is) > > Note that what would be even more effective is to have an intermediate > screen with complementary information. I'd say that's something for after 10.3. > e.g. when clicking the IRC link (as above), get into another screen that > shortly explains what IRC is, that the room is a community thing and by > no means "official support", and with additional links, for example: > * more information about IRC (-> wikipedia) > * #suse channel rules (-> http://suse-irc.org/rules.html (1)) > and a big fat button "connect now" that would start the respective IRC > client and connect to irc://irc.freenode.net/#opensuse > > (1) we could move that to opensuse.org or opensuse-community.org, might > be more appropriate > > Same thing for mailing-lists, forums, SDB, wiki, ... > > And maybe it would be a good idea to split > a) "how to contribute" type of links (build service, wiki, community) > b) "how to get help" type of links (IRC, mailing-lists, forums, SDB, ...) > in order to get more space in the greeter window (maybe use tabs in the > susegreeter window ?) > > One thing that must really be kept in mind is that the "how to get help" > links are not very interesting on first login and that the user will > want to use them _when he needs help_. > 1) "damn, my sound card doesn't work" or "why does amarok not play my > MP3s" or ..., which leads to: > 2) "where can I get help ?" > 3) -> clearly label the desktop icon ("Get help!" would be most I fully support the "Get help" labeling even as there is more written as Support and Communication. > appropriate IMO but then again, I can already hear suits claim "yeah but > it's community support not official support and ...") We are a community distribution so community help is one channel for official support.
I'll put the susegreeter thing to today's IRC meting agenda to get agreement on it. M > 4) -> clearly explain the options and quickly get the user there, which > can be achieved through action oriented bullet lists (as explained above) > > Thanks for reading. > > cheers -- Michael Löffler, Product Management SUSE Linux Products GmbH, Maxfeldstraße 5, 90409 Nuremberg SUSE LINUX Products GmbH - Nürnberg - AG Nürnberg - HRB 16746 - GF: Markus Rex --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
