Spotlight
A spotlight draws attention to one part of the interface to teach users about a key feature or workflow.
When to use
- Introducing something new that people would not find on their own.
- A short sequence of at most three steps, shown once.
- A change to something familiar, where people would otherwise search for what moved.
When not to use
- Teaching the whole product. People close tours they did not ask for.
- Anything a clearer interface would explain. Fix the design instead.
- Something required. If people must act, the interface should ask them directly.
- Every visit. Show it once and remember that it was shown.
Guidance
Do
Queues moved
They now live in the sidebar so you can reach them from anywhere.
Say how many steps there are and let people skip. Both make the tour easier to sit through.
Don't
Welcome!
Let us show you around the product so you can get the most out of every feature.
Do not start a tour with no way out. This one has no step count, no skip, and tells people nothing they need.
Intensity
How much attention each of this component's grounds uses, scored against the ladder in both themes.
| Appearance | Ground | Light | Dark |
|---|---|---|---|
| spotlight | purple-bold | 0.503Marked | 0.722Marked |
Substrate, Ambient and Marked are measured. Directed depends on what else is in the region. Demanded is declared, and its use is limited. So neither of those two depends on the component alone. See intensity.
Content
What to write, and what to leave out.
- Name what changed. Queues moved, not Welcome.
- Say why it matters to people, not what the team built.
- Always give the position when there is more than one step.
- Label the last action for what it does, so Done rather than Got it.