Shell 40: onboarding
When we introduce shell UI changes in GNOME 40, it will be important to provide onboarding for existing users, to help them transition to the new experience.
Assorted points to consider:
- The new shell design starts in the overview rather than the desktop, which will affect gnome-tour. It currently starts with an intro "splash" animation which will potentially be a bit odd if it's seen from the overview. Also there's potentially some friction between showing the overview for the first time and then inviting people to focus a window to learn about it.
- There's a tension between using the tour for both new users and existing users. Existing users won't want information on features that haven't changed. New users won't know the significance of "here's stuff that's changed".
- In our user testing, we saw evidence of users skipping over and not internalising the existing tour. A proper solution to this might be to have an interactive tour that's part of the shell itself, but in the absence of that, it would be good to consider ways to enhance engagement with the existing tour. That could include:
- Larger, higher-resolution graphics
- A next button which isn't always in the same position
- Some interactive pages (say, for trying out shortcuts or touchpad gestures)
- It would be good if some of the onboarding material could be accessed at a later date, for reference. For example, the new touchpad gestures.
Edited by Allan Day