How can I get you started in 5 minutes?

[Karan Malhi <ka...@gmail.com>]

Since we are going to release the next version pretty soon, I thought that
the website and documentation should be revisited to make sure users have a
good experience. So, I did a little survey today. I asked a group of java
people on what could I do to improve our website.
I gave them a little task. I asked them to go to our website and give me
suggestions as to what would it take get them started with openejb within 5
minutes.

So they responded and I typed. Here is what I got back from them immediately
after looking at the website (in no specific order of importance).

1. light blue color is hard to read
2. small fonts are hard to read
3. getting started link
4. I need a Short description and a download
5. I need a downloadable working example.
6. Navigation screens
7. We really do not know where to get started (this is similar to point 3
above)

Keep in mind that the objective was to get them started within 5 minutes.
They could easily spend 20 minutes or more and figure things out (but that
was not the objective).

As I get more info, I will share with you.  I will also try and focus on our
website/docs , if anybody wants to jump in with me to cleanup , that would
be  great.
-- 
Karan Singh Malhi

Re: How can I get you started in 5 minutes?

[Karan Malhi <ka...@gmail.com>]

>
>
> I agree with Jacek.  This is some impressive initiative.
>
Thank you


1. light blue color is hard to read

>
>
> We can try darkening it up.
>
That would be a good idea

 2. small fonts are hard to read
>>
>
> I did some an "eye-ball" comparison and it seems we're using the same font
> family and size as slashdot.org and eclipse.org.  I wonder if those sites
> look "small" to them as well or if there's something about the basic layout
> of the site that might make it worse.

I think except for the fonts on site-updates on the top right, everything
else looks fine to me


>
>  3. getting started link
>> 4. I need a Short description and a download
>> 5. I need a downloadable working example.
>> 6. Navigation screens
>> 7. We really do not know where to get started (this is similar to point 3
>> above)
>>
>
> Seems like all of these needs would be satiated if we had one big link
> pointing to a 5 minute video tutorial.  We've got all this material and more
> (except screen shots), but I can see how someone can get "link blind" with
> so many options.  Seems the best way to get someone started is for us to
> walk them though it.
>
Exactly! . Instant gratification -- if we can get openejb up and running
with a working example on which they can build on, we have succeeded in
giving the user instant gratification and a feeling of success. After that
they become self motivated to try things out and are willing to put in the
extra effort. Basically, we will end up having one more loyal openejb user
:).




-- 
Karan Singh Malhi

Re: How can I get you started in 5 minutes?

[David Blevins <da...@visi.com>]

On Aug 14, 2008, at 7:16 AM, Karan Malhi wrote:

> Since we are going to release the next version pretty soon, I  
> thought that
> the website and documentation should be revisited to make sure users  
> have a
> good experience. So, I did a little survey today. I asked a group of  
> java
> people on what could I do to improve our website.
> I gave them a little task. I asked them to go to our website and  
> give me
> suggestions as to what would it take get them started with openejb  
> within 5
> minutes.

I agree with Jacek.  This is some impressive initiative.

> So they responded and I typed. Here is what I got back from them  
> immediately
> after looking at the website (in no specific order of importance).
>
> 1. light blue color is hard to read

We can try darkening it up.

> 2. small fonts are hard to read

I did some an "eye-ball" comparison and it seems we're using the same  
font family and size as slashdot.org and eclipse.org.  I wonder if  
those sites look "small" to them as well or if there's something about  
the basic layout of the site that might make it worse.

> 3. getting started link
> 4. I need a Short description and a download
> 5. I need a downloadable working example.
> 6. Navigation screens
> 7. We really do not know where to get started (this is similar to  
> point 3
> above)

Seems like all of these needs would be satiated if we had one big link  
pointing to a 5 minute video tutorial.  We've got all this material  
and more (except screen shots), but I can see how someone can get  
"link blind" with so many options.  Seems the best way to get someone  
started is for us to walk them though it.


-David

Re: How can I get you started in 5 minutes?

[Karan Malhi <ka...@gmail.com>]

>
> What an excellent approach to check out the website. Invaluable feedback.
>
Thanks

>
> > 1. light blue color is hard to read
> > 2. small fonts are hard to read
>
> I don't mind leaving it as is, but I can easily understand their
> concerns with the colors. I don't know what alternatives would improve
> the reading. Realying on your taste ;-)
>
I do not mind it either. I am able to read it fine, I just dumped the user
feedback into a text file (as they were giving me feedback) and simply
pasted it here :)

>
> > 3. getting started link
> > 4. I need a Short description and a download
>
> I think a 5-minute tutorial is required. Is there any? I think I could
> write one if missing (yet I'd bet I've seen it soemwhere - can't find
> it now - not on the welcome page at least so it need some love).


I had once created a getting started (that was for the standalone server in
non-embedded mode). Here is the link to it
http://openejb.apache.org/3.0/getting-started.html

Confluence has a really nice tab feature where we could add the following
tabs on the getting started page:-

Standalone server, embedded mode, embedded in tomcat
Each of these could have tabs under them for
Eclipse, Netbeans, IDEA, Notepad

All of them should be accompanied with downloadable code, so that the user
does not have to type in anything and just download, deploy and run.
Basically, the idea is that the user actually "sees something running" as
quickly as possible and also has the example source code and the setup
instructions for their favorite IDE.

There should be ZERO mention of maven in the whole document.  Most of the
people I encounter do not use maven at all ( a very small fraction uses
maven).
There might be a better way to do this, but I thought that a "Getting
Started" document structured the above way would be able to cater most of
the audience. We should also advertise teh getting started link nicely on
the home page. I am pretty hopeful of this thing working. Would be fun to
see the google analytics numbers and see whether we were able to retain
"more" first time visitors with this approach :)

>
>
> Jacek
>
> --
> Jacek Laskowski
> Notatnik Projektanta Java EE - http://www.JacekLaskowski.pl<http://www.jaceklaskowski.pl/>
>



-- 
Karan Singh Malhi

Re: How can I get you started in 5 minutes?

[Jacek Laskowski <ja...@laskowski.net.pl>]

On Thu, Aug 14, 2008 at 4:16 PM, Karan Malhi <ka...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Since we are going to release the next version pretty soon, I thought that
> the website and documentation should be revisited to make sure users have a
> good experience. So, I did a little survey today. I asked a group of java
> people on what could I do to improve our website.
> I gave them a little task. I asked them to go to our website and give me
> suggestions as to what would it take get them started with openejb within 5
> minutes.

Hi,

What an excellent approach to check out the website. Invaluable feedback.

> 1. light blue color is hard to read
> 2. small fonts are hard to read

I don't mind leaving it as is, but I can easily understand their
concerns with the colors. I don't know what alternatives would improve
the reading. Realying on your taste ;-)

> 3. getting started link
> 4. I need a Short description and a download

I think a 5-minute tutorial is required. Is there any? I think I could
write one if missing (yet I'd bet I've seen it soemwhere - can't find
it now - not on the welcome page at least so it need some love).

Jacek

-- 
Jacek Laskowski
Notatnik Projektanta Java EE - http://www.JacekLaskowski.pl