Hello,

It's been a long-standing goal of our project to have a first-run
wizard application that walks users through initial configuration and
use.

I had a recent change of heart on this topic and decided instead that
it would be preferable to have a QuickStart document that the user
could read as many times as they wish, and that document could walk
them through the initial configuration.  I decided on the QuickStart
document approach because it doesn't waste development effort on an
application that will only be run once and wouldn't teach the user how
to change those settings in the normal (preferred) way later on.

My plan until very recently was to register the QuickStart document as
a "RunOnce" task so that it ran (opened in the CHM viewer) the first
time the user logged in after an install.  But it's quickly becoming
apparent that this is idea is full of pitfalls as well.  The new MSI
installer does not require a reboot and could be installed by an admin
without you being aware of it, so getting the document to open when
you expect it to, or having it open unexpectedly, is a real problem.

So the approach I'm leaning towards now is to have the installer add a
"TortoiseHG QuickStart" shortcut to the desktop if the user/admin
chooses to install the local CHM file.  I think this helps users who
install THG and wonder "where the app is".  This gives us a chance to
explain that THG is a shell extension and command line apps, and it
allows users to get back to the quick start when they want it, and to
harmlessly delete the shortcut when they're tired of looking at it.

I'm curious what others think about the idea.

--
Steve Borho

PS: This is the current quickstart. It needs a lot of work:
http://tortoisehg.bitbucket.org/manual/1.0/quick.html

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