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"quick start" should be more useful to non experts #445

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CouldBeThis opened this issue Nov 24, 2020 · 2 comments
Open

"quick start" should be more useful to non experts #445

CouldBeThis opened this issue Nov 24, 2020 · 2 comments

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@CouldBeThis
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Hello I am a new user without significant background experience with these kinds of things.

The Quick Start page is extremely important to a project which wants to grow its user base. In general, first impressions count for a lot. But this is a really easy way to lose someone who has just installed the program to try it out. It's discouraging to be going in circles trying to just get something going. Better to have some success at the beginning so you feel like you are getting somewhere.

On the other hand, once you have used a program for a little while you are 1) more invested in it so more likely to be persistent in finding information, 2) more accustomed to the way it does things, and 3) have a better grasp of what kind of information can be found in what location.

On first install none of this is the case yet. Here is feedback on Quick Start from an extremely non expert.

Step 1 through 3 in Quick Start are very easy. :)

Step (4) is

  1. Secure the server with a method of your choice
  • Create an SSL certificate and add it on the Networking page.
  • Put your server behind a reverse proxy.
  • Only allow local connections and refrain from forwarding any ports.

Based on my limited background experience and understanding, I have re written what I think this should say to be inclusive of less sophisticated end users (like myself). Of course it may be totally wrong, in which ase maybe it will be helpful feedback for someone who knows what they are talking about to fix it.

  1. Optional: Configure inbound networking
  • Note: It is recommended that users who do not have experiencing in running and securing servers start by setting up Jellyfin to run on their local network only rather than making it available to the whole world. For example, if you have a home wifi network, this will let you enjoy your media on all connected devices (TV, tablet, phone, laptops etc).
  • Those who understand the risks and would like to enable access outside the local network can find instructions in the Networking section of the documentation to learn about options.

So ideally the default set up would be local network only and extra steps would be required to change this. I can't recall if it's in the set up wizard or what so the above is missing how to actually do this if such instruction is required at the moment.

So next step is currently

  1. Enjoy your media!

I have been stuck here for over an hour trying to figure out how to do this exactly. So unfortunately I cannot making any precise suggestions about content but the kind of thing I was hoping to see

  1. To enjoy your media you will need a client app installed on a compatible device. Here is a complete list of available clients.

Our most popular clients are:

  • Android: Download / Written instructions / Video tutorial / Website
  • iOS: Download / Written instructions / Video tutorial / Website
  • Samsung TV: Download / Written instructions / Video tutorial / Website
  • Kodi: Download / Written instructions / Video tutorial / Website
  • Airplay: Download / Written instructions / Video tutorial / Website

Obvs this isn't a place to obtain tech support but just by way of feedback I am going to tell you that I cannot figure out how to get the web interface to see chrome cast and that attempting to log in http://[desktop's ip]:8096 or [server name] using Gelli android app doesn't work and this is the place that should have information about how to do that, or where to find out how to do that.

If there are any troubleshooting infos available in some of the various websites that would be a handy link... even for example there was once a really good thread or something that might be useful.

this should be followed by step (6) which describes methods of obtaining support, documentation, issues, community etc.

Hope this is useful towards the goal of making this software more usable. It appears to me that a lot of work has already gone into building everything.

Oh one other thing (I am not sure if this should be separate issue or what?) but there is a link in the left navigation for Quick start to CSS Customization. I am not really sure what the audience of this page is but I don't think it belong in quick start since very few people modify the CSS of anything as a first order of business. If it does belong here it probably shouldn't be the first subsection of the first category.

@Alcatraz077
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Personally I like these changes. I'm not part of the dev team or anything, but I dig it. You might wanna make a PR for that page in this repo and the dev team should take a look at it at some point.

@CouldBeThis
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thanks for the encouragement :) but I don't understand well enough how all this works to make anything useful.

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