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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: How about a first-time interactive tutorial?
From:       Irwin K <emerald-arcana () rogers ! com>
Date:       2002-08-28 2:38:00
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On Saturday 24 August 2002 10:52 am, Michael Peligro wrote:

> Dragging icons, copying icons, selecting all icons with a mouse can be
> incorporated in the game.

While this will be fine for teaching mouse-handling (hey, anyone know that 
game where you have to prevent Bill Gates from taking over the network of 
Unix machines?) it won't do a lot for letting people learn KDE.

For learning KDE, we should probably stick with something direct and simple.  
Short textual descriptions, instructions, and an animated GIF or SVG or other 
to show how the action's done.  When the action is finished, a description 
(like a tooltip) pops up with some text explaining some details about the 
actions and adding advanced tips (if appropriate.  For example, single-click 
can come with an explanation: "You've clicked on the item!  KDE uses 
single-clicking because it's faster than double-clicking and avoids stress on 
your fingers."  Or something like that.) 

Every step should have a "Save my place here and exit" button to allow the 
user to quit at any time, but to return to the exact dialog when they're 
looking to complete the tutorial.  There should also be links that ALWAYS 
lead to a quick-reference to the tutorial (i.e. Table of Contents).

-- 
-- Arcana  (Irwin)
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