New Feature: Help Cards (video)

Adam Borries (Logos)
Adam Borries (Logos) Community Manager, Logos Employee Posts: 881

New in 8.10 beta 2, Help Cards suggest help articles and videos to help new users learn to use Logos.

  • Help Cards appear only the first 3 times you open a new Logos tool or other panel. 
  • They are currently available only for Logos (not Verbum), and only for English, until we have more training material available for those brands.
  • Updated help card content (which is pulled from the Help resource) will be published concurrently with beta 3. 

We would love to have your feedback, especially on how helpful this will be to new users. 

Comments

  • MJ. Smith
    MJ. Smith MVP Posts: 53,405

    It is critical that one can view the help card after the first three times if one wishes because

    • you may be trying to see what a new user is seeing (think answer questions in forums)
    • you may not have used the feature for ages (think need a refresher)
    • you may be using the feature for a different function than previously.

    Yes, I see that I can reset all of them but that can create a real mess when there is a single feature I wish to override.

    Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."

  • Andrew Batishko
    Andrew Batishko Member, Administrator, Community Manager, Logos Employee Posts: 5,395

    MJ. Smith said:

    It is critical that one can view the help card after the first three times if one wishes

    Even after having viewed the help card 3 times, there will be an entry in the panel menu that let's you see the card.

    Andrew Batishko | Logos software developer

  • MJ. Smith
    MJ. Smith MVP Posts: 53,405

    Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."

  • Adam Borries (Logos)
    Adam Borries (Logos) Community Manager, Logos Employee Posts: 881

    I knew I was forgetting something!

    Thanks for pointing that out, MJ, and Andrew for coming to the rescue. 

  • MJ. Smith
    MJ. Smith MVP Posts: 53,405

    Okay, to some extent, I need the updated Help to really have a solid opinion but I like the basic approach - obvious but not pushy. However, I'd like to see it take one additional step for the seminarian trying to get up to speed for his first class.

    I would like to see a line at 1 below (probably the last line before the dismiss/don't show line that provides a link for the documentation or a comment that the documentation is internal. In this case, it would be a link to Brannan, Rick. Ancient Literature Documentation. Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2015. This would be ever so much more convenient than open library, filter by manual/glossary, read the list or start typing a search argument to find the right resource, open it ...

    Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."

  • MJ. Smith
    MJ. Smith MVP Posts: 53,405

    Interesting ...

    • I opened the Ancient Literature Guide and saw the help card
    • I opened the Apparatuses Guide and saw the help card
    • I opened the Atlas and saw no help card

    Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."

  • MJ. Smith
    MJ. Smith MVP Posts: 53,405

    Here I may be being dense, but I didn't see anything that implied clicking on the text would take me to https://support.logos.com/hc/en-us/articles/360015518272-Copy-Bible-Verses. I don't know about others, but I would like some indication that clicking causes something to happen and some indication if I'm headed to a video, a support article, the help file, documentation. Why? because given my prior knowledge and my learning style, that would affect whether or not I want to click ... and for some users the band wide might matter.

    Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."

  • MJ. Smith
    MJ. Smith MVP Posts: 53,405

    Two more observations:

    1. Although the Interactives are under tools - I did not get Help cards on them as I did with tools.
    2. I hope that the development of Faithlife Assistant will be restored to life in coordination with this project

    Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."

  • Angel Erazo
    Angel Erazo Member Posts: 75 ✭✭

    I have an spanish UI I can't see the help card. I use Verbum.

    I changed to english UI but the option to hability the help card don't appear

  • Andrew Batishko
    Andrew Batishko Member, Administrator, Community Manager, Logos Employee Posts: 5,395

    I have an spanish UI I can't see the help card

    From Adam's original post:

    They are currently available only for Logos (not Verbum), and only for English, until we have more training material available for those brands.

    Andrew Batishko | Logos software developer

  • Philana R. Crouch
    Philana R. Crouch Member, Logos Employee Posts: 4,597

    MJ. Smith said:

    Interesting ...

    • I opened the Ancient Literature Guide and saw the help card
    • I opened the Apparatuses Guide and saw the help card
    • I opened the Atlas and saw no help card

    MJ,

    I'm seeing the Help Card for the Atlas Tool. Are you using Verbum?

  • Kevin A
    Kevin A Member Posts: 1,041 ✭✭

    MJ. Smith said:

     I didn't see anything that implied clicking on the text would take me to https://support.logos.com/hc/en-us/articles/360015518272-Copy-Bible-Verses.

    +1 I did not either realise clicking the text would link off to a support article, which is a great feature, but many will not realise so.

    I had only been clicking the Videos when they showed, or the 'Ok' or 'Dont show help cards' links at the bottom

  • Fr Devin Roza
    Fr Devin Roza MVP Posts: 2,413

    I have Verbum installed, so won't see this new feature for now, but it looks like a great idea!

    That being said, apart from the option to reset in the Program Settings, I would suggest considering:

    1. Making the Help Card available from the ... menu in the upper right (of each tool, etc. where they are available).
    2. Integrating the videos directly in the "Logos Help" / "Verbum Help" resource, so that the cards always point to the Help resource. 
  • Graham Criddle
    Graham Criddle MVP Posts: 32,636

    Making the Help Card available from the ... menu in the upper right (of each tool, etc. where they are available).

    This is in place

  • MJ. Smith
    MJ. Smith MVP Posts: 53,405

    I'm seeing the Help Card for the Atlas Tool. Are you using Verbum?

    No, a bit to my annoyance I swapped my Logos (usually stable now beta) and my Verbum (usually beta now stable) application roles.

    When you got the Atlas help card was it the 3rd passage Guide subguide in a row that you entered?

    Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."

  • Philana R. Crouch
    Philana R. Crouch Member, Logos Employee Posts: 4,597

    MJ. Smith said:

    When you got the Atlas help card was it the 3rd passage Guide subguide in a row that you entered?

    No, I just opened the Atlas Tool from the Tools Menu, but I also opened it from a Guide and it shows up. Perhaps you can clarify what you mean by

    MJ. Smith said:

    When you got the Atlas help card was it the 3rd passage Guide subguide in a row that you entered?

  • MJ. Smith
    MJ. Smith MVP Posts: 53,405

    I want to toss another suggestion in the hat. I'll give the grandiose version and let others scale it down. Consider expanding the help available with as little clutter as possible. Taking a clue from the new Context Menu Search, Copy or Lookup make buttons or icons for:

    • Help file
    • Logos Training web page
    • Logos Training video
    • Documentation resource (manual, glossary, or internal)
    • User created as in shortcut bar (primarily for wiki or blog but usable for user/3rd party materials); I'd love to have wiki and blog built in but I suspect the maintenance cost would be too high. Too many bad links would sink the system.

    Leave the behavior of the help card as it is ... well, as it will be after you make clear that clicking has an effect.

    Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."

  • MJ. Smith
    MJ. Smith MVP Posts: 53,405

    MJ. Smith said:

    When you got the Atlas help card was it the 3rd passage Guide subguide in a row that you entered?

    Okay, it does appear to be working today. Last night when I was playing with it, it appeared that it was counting individual parts of the Passage Guide incorrectly. I'll watch for whatever set it off in that direction.

    Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."

  • MJ. Smith
    MJ. Smith MVP Posts: 53,405

    What is the intended difference between the check mark and the question mark?

    Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."

  • Andrew Batishko
    Andrew Batishko Member, Administrator, Community Manager, Logos Employee Posts: 5,395

    MJ. Smith said:

    What is the intended difference between the check mark and the question mark?

    No difference.

    Andrew Batishko | Logos software developer

  • Dave Hooton
    Dave Hooton MVP Posts: 35,767

    We would love to have your feedback,

    There are some non-intuitive aspects:

    1. In Program Settings (in a Panel)
      1. Clicking "Yes" will show a  dialog box for Program Settings with question mark ?  in all open panels.
      2. "Don't show help cards" will dismiss the ? and leave the Setting at "Yes".
      3. OK will leave the other panels showing a ?
      4. Reset doesn't indicate what has occurred
    2. In other Panels
      1. In the dialog box, "Don't show help cards" will prevent help cards being shown, but the Program Setting remains at "Yes"
      2. "Don't show help cards" sometimes does nothing and OK is the only way to exit.
      3. Pressing ? (Hide)  in the dialog box leaves a well hidden ? in the panel
    3. With "Show help cards" in Panel Menu:
      1. it operates if the Program Setting is "No".
      2. it will be unchecked if you respond OK in the dialog box
      3. "Don't show help cards" will leave a well hidden ? in the panel

    The scope/effect of "Don't show help cards" is uncertain. The trail of ? is confusing and they can be overlooked.

    The combination of operations (in same/different places) doing the same thing is confusing.

    especially on how helpful this will be to new users. 

    It could be if the above issues can be resolved/simplified.

     

    Dave
    ===

    Windows 11 & Android 13

  • Owen Shelton
    Owen Shelton Member, Logos Employee Posts: 35

    Thanks for the feedback Dave!

    In 1.1, 1.3, 2.3, 3.1, 3.2 you are describing the expected behavior so far as we have intended it to work.

    1.2 and 2.1 describe a known issue that we will be addressing.  The setting is being set to No; it is just that the settings UI will not be updated to reflect its new value while it is open.

    2.2 is an issue we have not yet encountered.  What operating system would you happen to be using?

    Definitely interesting feedback for us to discuss; thank you (and everyone else who has commented on this thread).

  • Dave Hooton
    Dave Hooton MVP Posts: 35,767

    2.2 is an issue we have not yet encountered.  What operating system would you happen to be using?

    Windows (as per my signature lines)

    Just encountered that now, after selecting NO in Program Settings and clicking "Show help card" in the panel menu.

    I can exit the dialog on Hide but it leaves a ? in the panel, and deselects the panel setting. Pressing ? displays the dialog box and re-selects the panel setting. And we go in circles when I exit on Hide. All this whilst the Program Setting is NO. Exiting on OK fixes this.

    Dave
    ===

    Windows 11 & Android 13

  • Dave Hooton
    Dave Hooton MVP Posts: 35,767

    Reset doesn't indicate what has occurred

    It should be deactivated when the Program Setting is NO.  On YES, one can see the ? pop up.

    Dave
    ===

    Windows 11 & Android 13

  • Mattillo
    Mattillo Member Posts: 6,116 ✭✭✭

    New in 8.10 beta 2, Help Cards suggest help articles and videos to help new users learn to use Logos.

    • Help Cards appear only the first 3 times you open a new Logos tool or other panel. 
    • They are currently available only for Logos (not Verbum), and only for English, until we have more training material available for those brands.
    • Updated help card content (which is pulled from the Help resource) will be published concurrently with beta 3. 

    We would love to have your feedback, especially on how helpful this will be to new users. 

    I like this feature!  In the future, any chance you can change the options to Yes No and Always?  Instead of having to reset to get them to appear, just having an always appear would be nice in my opinion.  Of course it wouldn't be the default but it'd be nice.

    Thx!