As promised,[1] today we deployed a guided tour that shows new users how to make their first edit using VisualEditor. This tour is a complement to the similar one we created, which shows users how to use the basic functions of the wikitext editor.
Append ?tour=firsteditve to any article URL (where guided tours are available) to see it in action, like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ornate_Cowfish?tour=firsteditve or https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphaenogaster_fallax?tour=firsteditve
There are some bugs to iron out (like https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=54352) and translations are partially complete at best, but this is one more step toward finalizing the GettingStarted onboarding experience for newly-registered editors, and rolling out across language editions of Wikipedia. For reference, this is one of the tours we will be delivering to basically all new editors in our next A/B test of GettingStarted.[2]
This is awesome, two short comments on the copy:
• Click the "Edit beta" button (without the superscript) sounds a bit clunky, what if we just said click the "Edit" button (the guider is already pointing at the right tab). Wouldn't this also be problematic for those languages not using the "beta" label, like the Swedish WIkipedia example you just shared?
• Showing a "You're almost done" message right after I click the edit button confuses me as it seems to suggest that I don't actually need to modify the content.
other than this, I'm very excited about new guiders and I can't wait to see them live when the new GS goes in production.
Dario
On Sep 19, 2013, at 4:17 PM, Steven Walling swalling@wikimedia.org wrote:
As promised,[1] today we deployed a guided tour that shows new users how to make their first edit using VisualEditor. This tour is a complement to the similar one we created, which shows users how to use the basic functions of the wikitext editor.
Append ?tour=firsteditve to any article URL (where guided tours are available) to see it in action, like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ornate_Cowfish?tour=firsteditve or https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphaenogaster_fallax?tour=firsteditve
There are some bugs to iron out (like https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=54352) and translations are partially complete at best, but this is one more step toward finalizing the GettingStarted onboarding experience for newly-registered editors, and rolling out across language editions of Wikipedia. For reference, this is one of the tours we will be delivering to basically all new editors in our next A/B test of GettingStarted.[2]
-- Steven Walling https://wikimediafoundation.org/
- http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/ee/2013-September/000659.html
- mediawiki.org/wiki/Onboarding_new_Wikipedians#Proposed
EE mailing list EE@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/ee
On Thu, Sep 19, 2013 at 4:39 PM, Dario Taraborelli < dtaraborelli@wikimedia.org> wrote:
• *Click the "Edit beta" button* (without the superscript) sounds a bit clunky, what if we just said *click the "Edit" button *(the guider is already pointing at the right tab). Wouldn't this also be problematic for those languages not using the "beta" label, like the Swedish WIkipedia example you just shared?
Yeah I'm not sure why it's not showing it as superscript. The code is supposed to work so that the name of the button matches the same string as described by VE, so if it changes we don't have to manually sync the tour.
• Showing a "*You're almost done*" message right after I click the edit
button confuses me as it seems to suggest that I don't actually need to modify the content.
Yes, delaying until after the user enters text and the save button is activated is a next enhancement to add soon. :) It's bug 53456.
On 09/19/2013 07:51 PM, Steven Walling wrote:
Yeah I'm not sure why it's not showing it as superscript. The code is supposed to work so that the name of the button matches the same string as described by VE, so if it changes we don't have to manually sync the tour.
However, VE is actually using two different messages for the tab and its superscript effect (which works through an HTML element).
None of the HTML elements I needed were allowed, even though they're safe and allowed in wikitext. There's no real reason for this beyond excess caution, so I've proposed a change to allow all the safe tags: https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/85153/1
That will allow using the same HTML as VE. A separate issue is that VE is *very* flexible in how these appendices (the superscript beta is the appendix) is setup. If it becomes an issue, we can look at making GT a little smarter.
Matt Flaschen
Steven,
This is really cool, congrats for doing this!
When the dust settles, I would recommend that you consider a notification inviting new users to take tours like these.
I wish I had had a tool like this when I was just getting started, and would have welcomed a notification a week or two after I registered to invite me to check it out.
I personally would be have enjoyed a few extra steps showing me other editing features on a page, besides the two you have in this tour.
My 2 cents,
-f
On Sep 19, 2013, at 4:39 PM, Dario Taraborelli wrote:
This is awesome, two short comments on the copy:
• Click the "Edit beta" button (without the superscript) sounds a bit clunky, what if we just said click the "Edit" button (the guider is already pointing at the right tab). Wouldn't this also be problematic for those languages not using the "beta" label, like the Swedish WIkipedia example you just shared?
• Showing a "You're almost done" message right after I click the edit button confuses me as it seems to suggest that I don't actually need to modify the content.
other than this, I'm very excited about new guiders and I can't wait to see them live when the new GS goes in production.
Dario
On Sep 19, 2013, at 4:17 PM, Steven Walling swalling@wikimedia.org wrote:
As promised,[1] today we deployed a guided tour that shows new users how to make their first edit using VisualEditor. This tour is a complement to the similar one we created, which shows users how to use the basic functions of the wikitext editor.
Append ?tour=firsteditve to any article URL (where guided tours are available) to see it in action, like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ornate_Cowfish?tour=firsteditve or https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphaenogaster_fallax?tour=firsteditve
There are some bugs to iron out (like https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=54352) and translations are partially complete at best, but this is one more step toward finalizing the GettingStarted onboarding experience for newly-registered editors, and rolling out across language editions of Wikipedia. For reference, this is one of the tours we will be delivering to basically all new editors in our next A/B test of GettingStarted.[2]
-- Steven Walling https://wikimediafoundation.org/
- http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/ee/2013-September/000659.html
- mediawiki.org/wiki/Onboarding_new_Wikipedians#Proposed
EE mailing list EE@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/ee
EE mailing list EE@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/ee
_______________________________
Fabrice Florin Product Manager Wikimedia Foundation
On Thu, Sep 19, 2013 at 5:04 PM, Fabrice Florin fflorin@wikimedia.orgwrote:
When the dust settles, I would recommend that you consider a notification inviting new users to take tours like these.
I wish I had had a tool like this when I was just getting started, and would have welcomed a notification a week or two after I registered to invite me to check it out.
I personally would be have enjoyed a few extra steps showing me other editing features on a page, besides the two you have in this tour.
Another approach is to have a dashboard on the new user's user page: "You've made 8 edits, nice job! You've taken these three tours, but there are 2 others. If you've got questions, see the Teahouse. Have you considered joining a WikiProject?" etc. This information could appear if and when the user re-visits Special:GettingStarted, but that's another page to remember and find.
Notifications are great, but trying to manage a rich onboarding experience through transient notices is going to be difficult for WMF and the new user.
On 09/19/2013 08:04 PM, Fabrice Florin wrote:
I personally would be have enjoyed a few extra steps showing me other editing features on a page, besides the two you have in this tour.
Yeah, I have a similar idea for a sandbox tour: https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=47200
Basically the thought is, it opens up the tour in their user sandbox, shows them the key formatting tools, and encourages them to go crazy/experiment in their sandbox.
Matt
On Thu, Sep 19, 2013 at 5:04 PM, Fabrice Florin fflorin@wikimedia.orgwrote:
When the dust settles, I would recommend that you consider a notification inviting new users to take tours like these.
I wish I had had a tool like this when I was just getting started, and would have welcomed a notification a week or two after I registered to invite me to check it out.
Yes notifications are definitely part of the game plan to encourage return visits. In the short term, users will be invited to take such a tour immediately after they register, if the page they return to post-signup is editable.[1]
I personally would be have enjoyed a few extra steps showing me other editing features on a page, besides the two you have in this tour.
The current tour is far from complete I think, but it's a start. Perhaps telling users about the formatting toolbar and what the Review changes button is for? The balance is not overwhelming people who are making their very first edit, which is the primary audience of this tour.
On 09/19/2013 07:39 PM, Dario Taraborelli wrote:
This is awesome, two short comments on the copy:
• *Click the "Edit beta" button* (without the superscript) sounds a bit clunky, what if we just said *click the "Edit" button *(the guider is already pointing at the right tab). Wouldn't this also be problematic for those languages not using the "beta" label, like the Swedish WIkipedia example you just shared?
Good catch. It is localizable, but I didn't realize English Wikipedia was the only one with the beta tab.
We should decide whether we want to split the message based on this, or say just 'Edit' as you suggested.
The superscript effect will be fixed in the guider if we go that way, so we shouldn't let that influence our decision.
Matt Flaschen
On Thu, Sep 19, 2013 at 6:46 PM, Matthew Flaschen mflaschen@wikimedia.orgwrote:
• *Click the "Edit beta" button* (without the superscript) sounds a bit
clunky, what if we just said *click the "Edit" button *(the guider is
already pointing at the right tab). Wouldn't this also be problematic for those languages not using the "beta" label, like the Swedish WIkipedia example you just shared?
Good catch. It is localizable, but I didn't realize English Wikipedia was the only one with the beta tab.
We should decide whether we want to split the message based on this, or say just 'Edit' as you suggested.
On the one hand, just saying 'Edit' is the easy solution, but it may confuse people if they are prompted to do this as in English it says beta as well.
Pau, what do you think? My gut says we need to have the buttons match pretty precisely if we're sending users instructions via a guided tour.
On Thu, Sep 19, 2013 at 4:17 PM, Steven Walling swalling@wikimedia.orgwrote:
As promised,[1] today we deployed a guided tour that shows new users how to make their first edit using VisualEditor. This tour is a complement to the similar one we created, which shows users how to use the basic functions of the wikitext editor.
And if you want to try any destructive experiments, feel free to trash any pages in the beta enwiki, for example http://en.wikipedia.beta.wmflabs.org/wiki/0.9862937737031614_Moved?tour=firs...
-Chris
Pau, what do you think? My gut says we need to have the buttons match pretty precisely if we're sending users instructions via a guided tour.
Using the same exact label would be my preferred option since it causes the less problems (there is no doubt what the text is referring to).
The "beta" part can be understood a as an additional marker (as if it say "new" as Google products used to). It is likely that users can identify this option just by referring to it as "Edit", but considering that there is another "Edit" button next to it, making it obvious may save users some seconds of doubt.
Pau
On Fri, Sep 20, 2013 at 8:54 AM, Chris McMahon cmcmahon@wikimedia.orgwrote:
On Thu, Sep 19, 2013 at 4:17 PM, Steven Walling swalling@wikimedia.orgwrote:
As promised,[1] today we deployed a guided tour that shows new users how to make their first edit using VisualEditor. This tour is a complement to the similar one we created, which shows users how to use the basic functions of the wikitext editor.
And if you want to try any destructive experiments, feel free to trash any pages in the beta enwiki, for example http://en.wikipedia.beta.wmflabs.org/wiki/0.9862937737031614_Moved?tour=firs...
-Chris
EE mailing list EE@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/ee
Nice!
On 09/19/2013 04:17 PM, Steven Walling wrote:
Append ?tour=firsteditve to any article URL (where guided tours are available) to see it in action
How are these guided tours supposed to be triggered (apart from appending manually a string to the URL)?
On Fri, Sep 20, 2013 at 10:28 AM, Quim Gil qgil@wikimedia.org wrote:
How are these guided tours supposed to be triggered (apart from appending manually a string to the URL)?
There are a couple ways you can trigger a tour. Via a link or button, or by setting a tour cookie based on some event. For community members, the easiest way to trigger a tour would be to do something like appending the parameter on links or buttons. The Wikipedia Adventure project on enwiki starts their tour this way.
For these two particular tours (firstedit, firsteditve) we will be delivering them post-registration, when you are sent back to the page you were on pre-signup. The goal here is to test providing nearly all first-time editors a guided tour, and to try a version of GettingStarted suggestions where we don't force everyone through Special:GettingStarted right after signup. Users will be given a choice of either taking a tour of how to edit the current page (if allowed), or taking a GettingStarted suggested task. We're hoping to launch that as an A/B test against the current GettingStarted experience as a control, probably next week.
Already we know guided tours work for new editors accepting a GettingStarted task,[1] and we're hoping it will have similar positive effects for the many new users who don't accept a GettingStarted suggestion, typically because they signed up with a page to edit already in mind.