What is the best way to make people aware of new features?

Question

Continuing the discussion from Poll: Spelling Discussion Note - Yellow box needed?:

Poll: Spelling Discussion Note - Yellow box needed?

I could not see the title, but then I noticed you said “it will be”. I have used the Wordlist recently in 7.6, but did not even notice the faint little square at the left.

This is part of a more general problem we have had for some time … we create a new feature but are not successful in making a majority of user aware of what it does, what it is good for, how to use it.

What would be the most effective way to do this. Currently what we do is put one sentence description of the feature in the release (or beta release) announcement and then rely on people to go read the help topic.

Are there better alternatives than this?

Answer 1

+1 to the ‘more general problem’…
I feel that I use about 10% of what is available in ParaTExt. I create ‘work arounds’ until I read something in someone’s PT Supporters message that reveals there’s a tool to do pretty much (read ‘usually even more than’) what I’ve kludged together, and then I have to figure out how to transition to the tool (if it’s worth the hassle).
ParaTExt is a very powerful tool, but trying to keep up with what it can do can cause some anxiety. I have a friend who designs software for sawmills. He and his colleagues regularly make tours to the mills to train the users. Remember: he’s a designer–he wrote the software and he knows what it’s supposed to do. Seems like a fairly effective way to get the users up to speed. I’m not sure if / how that would work for our organisation, but I’ll put it out there.

Answer 2

I’m really impressed (and almost overwhelmed!) by the huge list of new features that are in 7.6

Because I’m interested in what’s new, I take the time to trawl through all those “one-line” descriptions looking for nuggets that I can use myself, or at least pass on to others as I train them. But I’m guessing that most people wouldn’t bother. There’s soooo much to read. Could we have a short (5-10 items) list of the “best new features” or “most significant improvements”. By doing so, we’re not wasting hours and hours of developer time.

Could we turn some of these new features into “tips and new features” at start-up (like a number of software packages used to have about 10 years ago). I’m not sure why that idea went out of fashion, but I think it could help a lot of users learn about new features.

The other thing that might draw people to the Help materials is more screen-shots.

I’m aware that many PT Supporters have been busy making short tutorial videos. Linking the videos to the help file AND the tips and new features may raise people’s awareness.

Answer 3

In my experience, very few people (translators or consultants) use Guides - they are so common that despite (or even because of?) the yellow colour, people’s eyes drift over them. Help needs to be there, but we all know that people only look there when they’re desperate, and many of the cultures we serve are relatively unused to following written instructions - they prefer oral (so videos are good in theory). A very concise file in the help menu called ‘What’s new’ would be good for many of us IMHO.

Comments

A very concise file in the help menu called ‘What’s new’ would be good

Herein lies the problem - this is already implemented. The first page of Help has a “What’s New in Paratext” section. Expandable feature titles mean readers can ignore features they don’t use. Interesting-looking items can be expanded to see single sentence descriptions of what’s new for that feature.

It seems that people don’t naturally investigate Help to find out “what’s new” and that’s understandable.

An option is a sticky topic here with a new post each time a new release happens. It further afield than the application, but it might arrive in someone’s inbox (if they’re registered here).

We will be experimenting (at some point) with an overlay, as per Mark+P’s suggestion (and how Google often present new features).

Would people read very brief weekly newsletters? Maybe with:

• Links to hot support topics from this site,
• Highlighted new features,
• Best practice for tasks,
• Requests for input on upcoming features,

Would these be read or ignored? It would be a lot of work for someone.

Answer 4

I would read them! I think hilighting different new features weekly after a release would be a great idea. Maybe a new list hilighted in the help with an email trigger to let people know, maybe even link to, said help topic.