Knowledge base

[mfietz]

I've been pregnant with this idea for a while. Recently @keunes reminded me of it: I think it would make a lot of sense to have some kind of knowledge base with tutorials, workarounds (known issues) and other general information.
This knowledge base could be started in the wiki. Once we got some information in it, we can integrate it into the app, either at the bottom of the settings (near about) or in the drawer.

For the tutorials, we might even have those in the app itself, through something like https://github.com/amlcurran/ShowcaseView
(My ideas go from having just screenshots explaining the steps to guiding the user visually through the app)

[keunes]

Would absolutely love this; thought about it for a while as well, but didn't think there would be much enthusiasm. Willing to help out; if there's a list of topics we could start expanding the wiki.

Agree it would be nice to be more welcoming to new users, using ShowcaseView, but also maybe improving the app itself (by making a fancy 'Empty state screen', if that's not the case yet).

[TomHennen]

Good idea.

[keunes]

@mfietz What would you like to tackle first? I can start writing the wiki if you have some topics and/or can point me to some known issues.

[mfietz]

How about we start with some kind of quick tour? Basically, you recommended AP to another person, what would you show that person at first? (List of steps that can later be turned into a guided tour in the app)
This should probably not include more than 10-15 steps and, perhaps, end in the audio player.

Another useful task would be to look into how other apps implemented such a guided tour. Screenshots is an obvious solution, but I think it is a rather bad one. If the user hasn't seen any of the app before, she probably cannot remember more than 5 steps, afterwards.
I'm thinking more in the direction of having the user "start" the tour and we then highlight the UI elements the user is supposed to press or fill in somehow.
What I hope to gain: List of interesting apps and maybe a short description (1-2 sentences) how they do it.

For the FAQ, it should answer questions like "What is Auto Download/Refresh?". For one, explain how to enable it, but then also explain what the feature will do.
"How can I backup/restore my subscriptions?"

What are the Top N settings an intermediate user should definitely have a look into?

[keunes]

So, we've got the following wishlist:

• a fancy 'Empty state screen'
• an interactive tutorial in the AP itself, e.g. using ShowcaseView
• an online FAQ with
  • explanation of most unclear features
  • some of the most wanted but not-soon-to-be-implemented features + explanations as why they're not (yet) implemented + workarounds
• plus I'd add the following to help develop the above: set up a User Survey (User survey #1373)

Maybe we should rename this thread to 'A warm welcome' or something since we went broader than just a knowledge base. Then we can create seperate issues for the wishes above to start brainstorming for the different functions there (like the list of highlights we want in the quick tour + references to good examples from other apps)