This is a task for building one of the modules in the newcomer homepage: the help module.
Main audience: Newcomers who want to learn more about Wikipedia editing on their own.
Primary targeted persona(s): Jae-Hee (Social Changer); Mina (Box Checker)
Secondary persona(s): Helena (Joiner-Inner); Yankov (Knowledge Sharer)
Goal/rationale for this module: Provide help that we know many newcomers seek directly. The initial EditorJourney report told us that between 30% and 40% of newcomers read a Help or Policy page on their first day. We also see from initial usage of the help panel that about half of newcomers who open up the help panel click one of its links. We believe that this is evidence that although many newcomers can find help materials on their own, we should continue to make it easier for them.
Invision mockups: https://wikimedia.invisionapp.com/share/KUQV2QDJ8A7#/screens/350626962
Summary: In short, the proposal here is to put the contents of the help panel directly onto the page, as opposed to in the help panel widget. This gives those contents more affordance in the context of the homepage, which is a page where we expect newcomers to be specifically looking for help. This version of the help panel would be considered a distinct "context" for the purposes of varying links by context (T211117).
Specifications for initial version
- General
- This module should be present for all newcomers.
- Though this module is similar to the help panel, there should be no "X" to dismiss it, and no cog to disable it or learn more.
- Though the help panel has a search component, this initial version will not have search.
- Copy and links
- Title: "Get help with editing"
- Header: "Top help pages about editing"
- Next: Bulleted list of the five help links chosen by the community. These should be the same as those in the help panel.
- Next: "View more help articles", which links to Help:Contents, just like in the help panel.
- Next: A button labeled "Ask the help desk" (see "Asking the help desk" section for behavior)
- Note: the "Your recent questions" section is included in the mockups, but is not part of the specifications for the initial version. See T218841 for development of this capability.
- "Ask the help desk"
- When users with no Javascript click the button, they should be taken directly to the help desk.
- When users with Javascript click the button, a modal should open with the same essential behavior as the modal for the mentorship module in T216631, but with different copy.
- Screen 1: asking the question and email configuration
- Title: "Ask the help desk"
- Contents: this should be the exact same words, links, and business rules that exist in the help panel: "When you submit a question...", followed by the email address options, followed by the question box.
- There should not be an option to "Include page title with my question", since that is not applicable on the homepage.
- This screen should have a "Post my question" button that is inactive unless there is text in the question box.
- This screen should have a "Cancel" button to close the modal.
- Screen 2: success
- Title: "Ask the help desk"
- Contents: this should be the exact same words, links, and business rules that exist in the help panel: "Your question has been posted!", with checkmark, sentences according to email status, congratulations on first edit (if applicable), and link to view the question on the help desk.
- This screen should have a "Done" button.
- On the help desk
- New questions should be posted to the help desk in the same way as the help panel, with the following two exceptions.
- The header should read like, "Help module question from user homepage (23:03, 20 February 2019)". This header should not contain a link at all.
- These questions should be saved with the edit tag, "Help module question".
Potential future specifications, listed for planning purposes
- Add the "Your recent questions" capability to easily link users to their questions and responses. See T218841 for this capability.
- Add help search. See the discussion on this task for ideas and options.
- Perhaps we could encourage the user to view the help desk before asking a question, which might give them more confidence when asking. This is similar in concept to the link that will be in the mentorship module that reads, "View your mentor's conversations with other users."
- Instead of having users ask the question in a modal, maybe there is a way to take them to the help desk and use a GuidedTour to take them through posting their question.
- In the modal for asking a question, we may want to illustrate to newcomers how to check their notifications to receive their response, perhaps by indicating it with a GuidedTour addition.
- Personalize content based on the user's needs from the welcome survey (e.g. if they created their account to make a new article, this module could contain resources for creating a new article).
Note for the future: one of @kostajh's ideas was to make the newcomer homepage into a panel that is present whenever the user wants to open it. The fact that this task currently wants the help panel to be embedded in the homepage is another reason why a ubiquitous homepage panel would be valuable -- we already have a help panel, and those concepts could be combined.
Below are @Etonkovidova's testing results archived from an earlier description on this task.
- It should not have "X" to dismiss it. It is not dismissable.
- It should not have a cog, and does not need either of the links found under the cog ("Disable this tool", "More about this feature")
- It should contain the question-asking dialogue and process just like the help panel.
- It should include the same options and logic around adding or changing an email address.
- It should not have the option to "Include page title with my question".
- When a question is posted to the help desk, the header should read like, "Help module question from user homepage (23:03, 20 February 2019)". This header should not contain a link at all.
- The buttons for navigating between screens on the help panel work the same, except the button labeled "Done" on the screen after asking a question should return the help panel to its original, neutral state.
- For non-Javascript users, instead of the question-asking field, there should just be a link that says "Post your question to the Community Help Desk", with that whole phrase being a link to the help desk. There should not be a "Continue" button for those users.
- These questions should be saved with the edit tag, "Help module question".
