Prompted by the comments shared here, this task is about creating an onboarding experience for the Reply tool to help people, across experience levels, form a clear and accurate mental image of how the tool works.
Components to introduce/teach
What follows is preliminary list and is subject to change as we learn more.[1][2]"
"Core" components
This category of components should include those that represent the fundamental mechanics of the tool. Caveat: this list may vary depending on experience level. [3]
- The tool will automatically sign the comments you post using it.
- The tool will automatically indent the comments you post using it.
- The tool has two modes: a mode for writing in source and a mode for writing in rich text.
- Type @ to notify someone specific
"Tertiary" components
This category of components should include those that help people define the potential [and limitations] of the tool. These would not be included in an initial onboarding flow (read: after clicking a "Reply" link for the first time). Instead, they'd likely be presented as tool tips or feedback messages when someone takes pre-defined action.
- Link to a more-info, help, or discussion page.
- Types of wikitext the tool does not support (e.g. tables)
Open questions
- 1. What "foundational" aspects/details about the Reply tool contribute most to peoples' understanding of it and confidence in it? How do these aspects/details vary between people have lots of experience contributing to Wikipedia and people who are newer to the project?
- Informed by two usability tests and ~4 months of use as a Beta Feature at our four partner Wikipedias, it seems the below are the most important concepts for Junior and Senior Contributors to understand in order to successfully use the Reply Tool and "get the most out of it." See T253434#6334269 for more details.
- Junior Contributors:
- 1. This is a tool for responding to comments posted on talk pages
- Senior Contributors:
- 1. This a tool for responding to comments posted on talk pages
- 2. This tool will automatically indent the comments you post with it
- 3. This tool will automatically sign the comments you post with it
- 4. This tool includes functionality for searching for and pinging other people
- Junior Contributors:
- Informed by two usability tests and ~4 months of use as a Beta Feature at our four partner Wikipedias, it seems the below are the most important concepts for Junior and Senior Contributors to understand in order to successfully use the Reply Tool and "get the most out of it." See T253434#6334269 for more details.
- 1A Once those aspects/details have been defined, what is the most effective sequence for introducing/teaching those concepts?
- 1B. What is the best way to teach those concepts?
- 2. What "tertiary" concepts/functions are important to explicitly communicate in the interface?
- 2A. What is the best way to teach those concepts?
- 3. What is the right balance between guiding (e.g. a walkthrough) and self-guided discovery (e.g. tooltips, hints, etc. that are presented in context, in response to peoples' explicit actions)?