[Qgis-developer] "official" qgis users?

[Martin Dobias]

On Thu, Nov 17, 2011 at 4:15 AM, Tim Sutton <lists at linfiniti.com> wrote:
>
> I think I already mentioned I actually did the work for this before as
> part of a 'first run' wizard (which could also be launched from a menu
> I guess). Actually it just did the steop of adding the user to the
> users map, but the others can be accommodated in the same way I think.
> I am slightly afraid I threw the work away by accident somewhere but
> will try to dig it up and apply it to master.

Hi

am I the only one here who thinks that 'first run' wizards (and tips
on start) are bad for user experience? :-)
Let's split users into two groups:
1. first time users - they do not know the software. That means they
do not feel to be a part of the community and therefore barely want to
add themselves to the user map or sign up to the users list. At the
same time the user is aware that the dialog/wizard will never be
opened again (because it's just for the first run) and by closing it
they may miss some important settings that must be set on the first
run etc.
2. common user opens qgis to do some work, not to be bothered with
some popups on startup - even if it is a new install.

Another aspects to consider:
- the wizard is used just once (and by new users) there is a
probability that bugs in the wizard will not be discovered/reported
(because the usual group of power users will not see them)
- the user may be behind a proxy (and did not have a chance to set
yet) so the online stuff will not work

Maybe a less invasive (non-modal) form of welcome wizard would be to
create a map canvas item that spans through the whole map canvas? It
could show tips, it could give links to documentation, tutorials, user
map, it could show recent planet qgis posts etc. And it could be shown
on every startup instead of a big blank space.

Regards
Martin