new bug entry page should make clear what happens next

[Karl Fogel]

The default bug entry form (https://bugs.edge.launchpad.net/bugs/+filebug) has a confusing aspect:

When entering the summary for a new bug, the user doesn't know she's really entering a search string -- that she's about to search for duplicate bugs. It's only revealed after the fact. The button just says "Continue", and doesn't make it clear that this is merely the first of N steps.

If the button said something like...

   "Next step: check against existing bug reports ==>"

...that might be a better user experience, I think. It would satisfy the Principle Of Least Surprise: the user would know what the button is going to do *before* she clicks. Currently, what happens after clicking "Continue" is rather unexpected.

[Eleanor Berger (intellectronica)]

I think that text is too much for a button, but we can display it next to the button.

[Martin Albisetti (beuno)]

I agree that if we tell the user what's going to happen, it's a better
user experience.
That said, most users won't read any text at all, and just start
typing, so I'm thinking that maybe we're better off explaining *after*
rather then before.
"Before you continue, please make sure your bug hasn't been reported:"

We have some preliminary mockups of an ajaxy version of reporting bugs:
https://wiki.canonical.com/Launchpad/UI/Bugs/ThreeDotO?action=AttachFile&do=view&target=report_bug_start.jpg
and
https://wiki.canonical.com/Launchpad/UI/Bugs/ThreeDotO?action=AttachFile&do=view&target=dupe_checker.jpg

--
Martin

[Karl Fogel (kfogel)]

Text could go above the button, sure. Or if there's a way to express this without text, that's fine too.

I'm mainly trying to get at the point that we have a button click where what the user expects the button to do is not what it actually does. If there's some way we can alleviate that, it would be good.