SCOOBE Spec: Displaying information for Multi-Version Updates

[dedavis6797]

Area(s) with issue?

Welcome / PowerToys Tour window

Opening this issue against PR #10978 to get feedback from the community on their preferred layout for the What's New page's content in the Welcome to PowerToys window. Specifically, we're focused on scenarios where a user updates across multiple versions (i.e. v0.31 -> v0.37).

The current proposed solution is to concatenate the significant update information from the multi-version update into a single list that is displayed to the user. Included with this list is a link to release notes for more specific info on what changed from version to version.

An alternative solution however, is to simply list out what's changed in a per-version format, where the user will see the significant updates from version to version directly on the What's New page.

Both solutions are viable, so we're opening it up to the community for deliberation until we close on the final design.

[htcfreek]

Some screenshots would be helpful for suggestions.

[crutkas]

The proposals are:

• Last to current version recaps on per-version breakout
• Last to current version recaps merged top level sections together
• Only Current version recap
• Total History on per-version breakout

Textual visuals

Here are some sample text for how it may show up. This is showing a 3 release upgrade .29 to .35.

Merged version style

v0.29 -> v0.35:

• New Features & Improvements
  • General
    • Added a 'First time load' experience. The hope is a quick, light way to learn about basic functionality
  • Color Picker
    • Esc can now be used to exit the editor
  • FancyZones
    • Dark mode for the editor
    • Certain settings (e.g. number of zones, spacing settings) can now be set on individual layouts.
    • New options to change zone activation algorithm
    • Added hotkeys and quick swap functionality for custom layouts! Users can now assign a hotkey in the editor and use it to quickly set a desktop's zones with Ctrl + Win + Alt + NUMBER key binding, or by pressing the hotkey while dragging a window.
  • PowerToys Run
    • Service management plugin (Start, stop, …)
    • Registry key plugin
    • System action plugin (Reboot, lock, ...)
    • Plugin Manager now is in settings. You can directly turn on / off, include items in general search, and change the action key
    • Improved support for additional window managers by abstracting out shell process calls
    • ~ will now act as the user home directory in Folder plugin
    • Users can specify where to show the launcher window
    • New plugin added to support opening previously used Visual Studio Code workspaces, remote machines (SSH or Codespaces), and containers! When enabled, use { to query for available workspaces. Please note, this plugin is off by default.
    • Shell history now saves the raw command instead of the resolved command. A command like %appdata% would now save in the Shell history as is instead of C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Roaming.
• Bugfixes Highlights
  • Fixed OneDrive SVG Bug (Improve OOBE images for  #9999)
  • SVG are scaled appropriately when view box is provided (Improve OOBE images for  #9999)
  • Fix for PT Run registering the hotkey on non-supported OS versions (Improve OOBE images for  #9999)
  • PowerToys will start requiring Windows 10 v1903 or greater after 0.35.x release (Improve OOBE images for  #9999)
  • Fixed FancyZones placement algorithm for when the Taskbar is vertical (Improve OOBE images for  #9999)

Per version breakout style:

v0.33 -> v0.35:

• New Features & Improvements
  • Color Picker
    • Esc can now be used to exit the editor
  • FancyZones
    • Added hotkeys and quick swap functionality for custom layouts! Users can now assign a hotkey in the editor and use it to quickly set a desktop's zones with Ctrl + Win + Alt + NUMBER key binding, or by pressing the hotkey while dragging a window.
  • PowerToys Run
    • Users can specify where to show the launcher window
    • New plugin added to support opening previously used Visual Studio Code workspaces, remote machines (SSH or Codespaces), and containers! When enabled, use { to query for available workspaces. Please note, this plugin is off by default.
    • Shell history now saves the raw command instead of the resolved command. A command like %appdata% would now save in the Shell history as is instead of C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Roaming.
• Bugfixes Highlights
  • PowerToys will start requiring Windows 10 v1903 or greater after 0.35.x release. (Improve OOBE images for  #9999)
  • Fixed FancyZones placement algorithm for when the Taskbar is vertical (Improve OOBE images for  #9999)

v0.31 -> v0.33:

• New Features & Improvements
  • General
    • Added a 'First time load' experience. The hope is a quick, light way to learn about basic functionality
  • FancyZones
    • New options to change zone activation algorithm
  • PowerToys Run
    • Plugin Manager now is in settings. You can directly turn on / off, include items in general search, and change the action key
    • Improved support for additional window managers by abstracting out shell process calls
    • ~ will now act as the user home directory in Folder plugin
• Bugfixes Highlights
  • Fix for PT Run registering the hotkey on non-supported OS versions (Improve OOBE images for  #9999)

v0.29 -> v0.31:

• New Features & Improvements
  • FancyZones
    • Dark mode for the editor
    • Certain settings (e.g. number of zones, spacing settings) can now be set on individual layouts.
  • PowerToys Run
    • Service management plugin (Start, stop, …)
    • Registry key plugin
    • System action plugin (Reboot, lock, ...)
• Bugfixes Highlights
  • Fixed OneDrive SVG Bug (Improve OOBE images for  #9999)
  • SVG are scaled appropriately when view box is provided (Improve OOBE images for  #9999)

[htcfreek]

More detailed is the per version view.

But I give +1 👍 for the merged style because the main use case is seeing all new features in an overview. For detailed version history the user can look on GitHub.

Btw.: I wouldn't link directly to github issue. The mention of the number is enough.

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Can we use a vote system like 🚀=merged layout 👀=detailed layout?

[niels9001]

My $0.02: the tailored release notes are nice.. but I'd be fine with just a scrollable list of release notes per version, e.g. how Your Phone does it. Having "first time run" teaching tips across various modules to introduce updates or new features might be more helpful for new users.

[Jay-o-Way]

When looking at (or thinking of) other programs, they normally never combine all changes into one single list. I am not liking the idea at all. What you call per-version and latest version both seem to be the standard.

[Jay-o-Way]

Can we use a vote system like 🚀=merged layout 👀=detailed layout?

I would rather create a poll somewhere. But that's just me.

[htcfreek]

Can we use a vote system like 🚀=merged layout 👀=detailed layout?

I would rather create a poll somewhere. But that's just me.

Also good. We should definitive have a real like survey.

[Alfacharlie1973]

What you call "Per version breakout style" seems more in line with what other applications do. I understand the logic for the "Merged version style" but it just does not feel right.

[dedavis6797]

Closing this as we've reached consensus on the initial implementation. We'll continue to utilize this feedback as we iterate/improve on the design moving forward.

Thanks everyone!