Improve Projects Page Usability for New Users #4088
Description
Motivated by the following experience and other similar ones observed by colleagues, this issue is about improving the project page's usability for new users.
Watching this person use cocalc for the first time was a little disturbing...
- Clicked sign in with github. It worked! Didn't have to check the agree to terms button...
- To make a new project he tried to click new project button but it was greyed out and said "Can't click this"
- After a little musing, he typed a title and then tried to click the first button again
- Realizes there's a second green button. Finally clicks the correct button
- Then I tell him "Okay, now open the project"
- To open the project, he tried to click large blue button
- After the blue button disappeared, he tried clicking the create a new project button (which he realized now was no longer greyed out)
- After seeing it led him to where he started, he realized there was extra text where the create dialogue had been but it was actually his project.
- He opened the project.
Goals:
- Make the most likely next step more obvious
- Make new things on the screen more apparent.
- eg. If a text dialogue appears but takes the place of an old one, that is visually non-obvious
Change list:
- Make the load more projects button less obvious under certain circumstances
- automatically "load projects older than 3 weeks..." in some cases #3844 If the account is less than 3 weeks old, don't even show the button
- Optional: Record # of projects somewhere (in account info?) and know when there even are more to load.
- Don't pre-open the create a new project dialogue. Or it should not look so appealing.
- When the new project is created, the creation dialogue and the new project listing should have a transition or should be more visually different.