New user help center (Was Re: Firefox startup page)

[Matthew East]

Hi again Michael,

On Tue, 2006-04-11 at 13:00 -0500, Michael V. De Palatis wrote:

>         First of all, a question: are you talking about the start page
>         in Ubuntu
>         5.10, or Ubuntu 6.06?

> I am basing this primarily on the start page in Breezy, as I haven't
> used Dapper extensively yet.

Ok, I've sure that you will find Dapper a big improvement in three ways:
first the simplification of the front page, and the emphasis on getting
help/participation; secondly, the new System->Help menu which is more
prominent and better looking; and thirdly, the reorganisation of the
gnome help center front page, which should now take the user more
clearly into our guides.

> I would also say that in principle, the concept I have in mind does
> not necessarily have to be the Firefox start page. The suggestion of
> having a desktop icon (for example) which goes to this "New User Help
> Center" is perhaps the better option.

{snip}

> Ubuntu-doc,
>  
> What further suggestions would you have on this idea? Personally, I am
> now convinced that a better way to display these FAQs and links to
> help for new users would be better served in either a desktop icon
> link or perhaps even a system tray icon that pops up a bubble on the
> first few boots or so (similar to the bubbles that pop up when updates
> are availalable).

I personally like the second idea a lot. I don't think a desktop icon is
a good idea: the link to the help from the panel was removed so I don't
think a desktop icon will go down well with the developers. However, a
notification bubble showing the users how to access the help center is a
good idea. It was discussed a few times on the desktop mailing list but
the idea hasn't caught on. We might repropose it, I suppose.

Matt
-- 
mdke at ubuntu.com
gnupg pub 1024D/0E6B06FF
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