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[Discussion] New user UX #18

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opened by bad · 13 comments

bad commented

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Continuing the discussion on the matrix channel we need to consider how carbon will look for new users who never heard of matrix and have no idea what federation is and how it works and whether we should default to a server or let the user pick one

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bad commented

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Key points:

Matrix.org is a huge monolith which is bad for network health
It's also slow which might lead to users making the association that carbon=matrix=matrix.org=slow
We shouldn't overwhelm users with technical details to make sure matrix doesn't look too hard to use
We need to consider the language users will be familiar with. For example discord calls their guilds servers, we should make sure that people don't think mistake matrix servers(homeservers) for groups
We should look into the mastodon ecosytem for inspiration
A lot of things I probably forgot about

Key points: 1. Matrix.org is a huge monolith which is bad for network health 2. It's also slow which might lead to users making the association that carbon=matrix=matrix.org=slow 3. We shouldn't overwhelm users with technical details to make sure matrix doesn't look too hard to use 4. We need to consider the language users will be familiar with. For example discord calls their guilds servers, we should make sure that people don't think mistake matrix servers(homeservers) for groups 5. We should look into the mastodon ecosytem for inspiration 6. A lot of things I probably forgot about

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jboi commented

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Some responses to corresponding points:

1: We need a site that shows a bunch of public matrix instances side-by-side, similar to how https://joinmastodon.org/communities does it.

3: There are 2 big subjects which are required to learn how matrix works, imo:
- Homeservers/Federation
- E2EE (and the user-responsibility (to take care of keys) schenanigans that happen with it)

So teaching these should be the whole load we'd be giving to the users, so maybe there'd be a "Do you come from discord? Read this first, please" when you're on the main website. Or maybe in a fashion that you can scroll down and read these two features. (Headed with "free and open chat protocol" followed by the federation part, followed by the E2EE part)

Some responses to corresponding points: 1: We need a site that shows a bunch of public matrix instances side-by-side, similar to how https://joinmastodon.org/communities does it. 3: There are 2 big subjects which are required to learn how matrix works, imo: - Homeservers/Federation - E2EE (and the user-responsibility (to take care of keys) schenanigans that happen with it) So teaching these should be the whole load we'd be giving to the users, so maybe there'd be a "Do you come from discord? Read this first, please" when you're on the main website. Or maybe in a fashion that you can scroll down and read these two features. (Headed with "free and open chat protocol" followed by the federation part, followed by the E2EE part)

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erkinalp commented

Maybe a few more readmes for Mattermost, XMPP and WhatsApp/Telegram users.

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bad commented

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https://github.com/daydream-mx/keymaker Might be useful later

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bad commented

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How would you feel about an explanation of what homeserver means on the home screen?
Something like this

The tooltip would only show up when the homesever input was focused and when it was empty

How would you feel about an explanation of what homeserver means on the home screen? Something like this ![image](/attachments/05aa05f0-7521-4678-8e61-f270d1a224ef) The tooltip would only show up when the homesever input was focused and when it was empty

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👀 1 🎉 2

jboi commented

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👀

That looks very nice, maybe put the "need help finding a homeserver" line on a newline, and indeed make that link blue, also make the popup last 2 or 3 seconds after someone hovers away from it, so someone has enough time to go to that link.

👀 That looks very nice, maybe put the "need help finding a homeserver" line on a newline, and indeed make that link blue, also make the popup last 2 or 3 seconds after someone hovers away from it, so someone has enough time to go to that link.

cadence commented

Owner

That's a really good prompt message.

I'd like to use a circled ? icon next to the "homeserver" label that responds to clicking, rather than hovering, or requiring the input box to be empty. Those are too "magic", IMO, and I fear people won't know how to make the prompt appear if they want to see it.

This should probably be made as part of a larger tooltips and modals js file.

That's a really good prompt message. I'd like to use a circled ? icon next to the "homeserver" label that responds to clicking, rather than hovering, or requiring the input box to be empty. Those are too "magic", IMO, and I fear people won't know how to make the prompt appear if they want to see it. This should probably be made as part of a larger tooltips and modals js file.

bad commented

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Here is what we ended up doing after talking about this on matrix(subject to change)
a5309a81b1

Here is what we ended up doing after talking about this on matrix(subject to change) https://gitdab.com/cadence/Carbon/commit/a5309a81b1f84b5cf81070b7fd6a68a463ca8ae8 ![image](/attachments/9b86e11b-f8ce-4e04-afbd-6f67cb21266d)

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erkinalp commented

This is indeed quite like Discord and Guilded logins, but it might be better to ask for the home server first (maybe listing a few popular homeservers such as FENEAS and matrix.org along with "enter another" text box) then proceeding to credentials.

jboi commented

Collaborator

Maybe have that "click here" button go to a page which on it's left side describes what a homeserver is, and on it's right side list some popular servers, the left side should mention that any homeserver can talk to any other.

That popup is quite nice, though I think the grey should be a bit darker.

cadence commented

Owner

Element is updating their homeserver selection interface. https://develop.element.io/

InfiniteWorldSoftware commented

Key points:

Matrix.org is a huge monolith which is bad for network health

It's also slow which might lead to users making the association that carbon=matrix=matrix.org=slow

We shouldn't overwhelm users with technical details to make sure matrix doesn't look too hard to use

We need to consider the language users will be familiar with. For example discord calls their guilds servers, we should make sure that people don't think mistake matrix servers(homeservers) for groups

We should look into the mastodon ecosytem for inspiration

A lot of things I probably forgot about

What's the timeframe for Carbon to be complete? By then matrix.org may be running polylith Dendrite.
^
Yes
There's not much anyone can do about this, Matrix has its own lingo just like Discord has their lingo? Maybe emphasize these new terms (channels->rooms, servers->spaces, DMs->People, etc.)
Not familiar with Mastodon.
I got a couple of suggestions about the left sidebar:
- The Directs/Channels part is a bit janky to use.
- To solve this, I'd suggest removing the pop-out sidebar, replacing the Directs button with the Carbon logo (I realize that this doesn't exist but maybe it should), and removing the Channels button and replacing it with a list of Spaces. In other words, replicate the Discord sidebar.

> Key points: > > 1. Matrix.org is a huge monolith which is bad for network health > > 2. It's also slow which might lead to users making the association that carbon=matrix=matrix.org=slow > > 3. We shouldn't overwhelm users with technical details to make sure matrix doesn't look too hard to use > > 4. We need to consider the language users will be familiar with. For example discord calls their guilds servers, we should make sure that people don't think mistake matrix servers(homeservers) for groups > > 5. We should look into the mastodon ecosytem for inspiration > > 6. A lot of things I probably forgot about 1. What's the timeframe for Carbon to be complete? By then matrix.org may be running polylith Dendrite. 2. ^ 3. Yes 4. There's not much anyone can do about this, Matrix has its own lingo just like Discord has their lingo? Maybe emphasize these new terms (channels->rooms, servers->spaces, DMs->People, etc.) 5. Not familiar with Mastodon. 6. I got a couple of suggestions about the left sidebar: - The Directs/Channels part is a bit janky to use. - To solve this, I'd suggest removing the pop-out sidebar, replacing the Directs button with the Carbon logo (I realize that this doesn't exist but maybe it should), and removing the Channels button and replacing it with a list of Spaces. In other words, replicate the Discord sidebar.

cadence commented

Owner

We aren't talking about the left sidebar here. Please.

Thanks for the other notes.

We aren't talking about the left sidebar here. Please. Thanks for the other notes.