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While we're refreshing the collective memory I'll review some of the rationale behind the development of the welcome page. (This is offered for background, information purposes.) David Trueman started this project about two years ago... I finished off the work on this version last winter some time (?) and it's been in testing ever since... ***** A primary goal has been to allow us to 'push' information towards users. Rather that _hope_ that they find committee notices, IP sites, and individual parts of the helpdesk, the new welcome page allows us to present relevant information to the user in a dynamic manner... rotating messages and even customizing the information to match a users experience level. It should be noted that the new welcome page is not a public WEB page... visitors from other sites will not access this page which is generated 'on-the-fly' when the user logs in. The new welcome page is a _custom_ page created for a particular user only at login and only for our regular dialup and telnet user accounts. Chebucto Lynx users are the only users who will get this page... in this sense the new welcome page is independent of other design initiatives relating to the _public_ CCN interface/site. ----- The new welcome page becomes a users 'command' center for their session, providing direct access and significantly increased exposure to basic CSuite services and functionality. The goal is to improve the usability of the system by improving communication with the user. ***** As noted above, the new welcome page reflects the experience level as reflected in the Lynx User Mode setting which is initially set to "Novice" (New User) and which is controlled by the user. ----- New/Novice Users ---------------------- The design goal of the 'Novice/New User' welcome page is to introduce these individuals to basic CSuite services and functionality such as the g)o commands. The userhelp tips can help them search for information and people, etc.. Intermediate Users ---------------------- The design goal of the 'Intermediate User' welcome page is to assist these users in developing their personal website (editing their profile). This version continues to give important g)o commands high visibility. The userhelp tips can help them with editing, uploading/downloading, quota etc.. Advanced Users --------------------- The design goal of the 'Advanced User' welcome page is to allow these users an opportunity to customize their own welcome page by adding links to IP sites they manager, or other links that they use frequently. This version assumes they understand the shortcuts and frees this screen space for their own purposes. The userhelp tips should help them with editing, uploading/downloading, mailing lists, etc.. ----- The ability for the Board, Membership, Volunteer and IP committee's to direct notices or other information to a user is not dependent upon a particular User Mode... ----- As you may guess from the time it has taken to realize this project it is complicated from both a programming and design perspective. While screen layouts are usually easily modified, in this case the screen 'real-estate' required ...to display organizational messages to a user, varies considerably from session to session. This contributes to a level of complexity which makes it much more difficult than usual to make layout changes without considering and balancing the impact on other screens/elements.... --- It has been necessary to modify Lynx to enable some of the design functionality and there is still at least one modification to Lynx needed... to permit easy access to the CCN Home Page. These modifications will be completed and tested before the new welcome page is made generally available. --- We have committed to providing a method for individual users to 'opt-out' of the new welcome page and thus retain the current 'Home Page' as their first page. --- The 'incorrect' "You Have New Mail" message mentioned by Norman appears to be associated with "Undeliverable/Returned Mail" messages that have not been deleted from an INBOX. While this should not be a problem with most users, the tech team is looking at other possible approaches to 'New Mail' notifications. david potter
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