Analyst444 182 Posted January 31, 2016 Share Posted January 31, 2016 I plan on creating a public EN Notebook that will be about migraines and chronic headaches. I anticipate that there will be over 100 Notes. There are more than 50 people I plan to notify by email about this public Notebook. I expect they will check it out at more than once. I doubt if any of them have ever heard of EN or have an EN account, much less know how to use it. In order to give them some rudimentary help, I was planning to include some EN Notes in the Notebook like: About This Database How to Navigate This Database Table of Contents (with a list of EN hyperlinks to specific Notes within the database) It dawned on me that the "Help" Notes I listed above may not pop up on the Snippets list at the top when these people access the public Notebook. I presume it depends on the sort order each person has previously set (or maybe the sort order set by the last person who accessed it). Do you know what I can do to keep the "Help" Notes readily apparent on the screen each time these people access the public Notebook? Presuming it can't be done, I will have to deliver the "Help" instructions to them in another manner. That won't be that big of a deal. I will have to do that to some degree anyhow, in that I will have to give them instructions on how to access the public Notebook. Link to comment
Level 5* DTLow 5,736 Posted January 31, 2016 Level 5* Share Posted January 31, 2016 5 minutes ago, Analyst444 said: I will have to give them instructions on how to access the public Notebook. I'm guessing you're sending them the public link to the notebook, or an email with the table of contents, each item as a public link. I prefer the second approach, it allows me to format it exactly as I want it and not worry about which document if listed first. Sending the notebook link works better if its an active notebook with documents being added I also include the message You will see two options for viewing these notes. The second option is a direct link and does not require you to have an Evernote account. Link to comment
Level 5* CalS 5,280 Posted January 31, 2016 Level 5* Share Posted January 31, 2016 If they are EN savvy at all, could it be as simple as in your introductory email to tell them to search for "How to ...." or whatever to access the help; note? Would a link to the help note in the the other notes work (redundant for sure, but visible)? Though I'm not sure how links perform across a shared public notebook. Link to comment
Analyst444 182 Posted January 31, 2016 Author Share Posted January 31, 2016 DTLow - Thanks for responding. It will be an active Notebook as I do ongoing research on this topic and will be adding & updating Notes. So, I will be inclined to go with the first approach. csihilling - Thanks to you, too. I have reason to believe that none of the recipients have ever heard of EN. So, I'm going to have to provide at least a few sentences of instructions in my initial email to them to lead them to EN and to create an account. To help them after that, I also created a "Main Table of Contents" EN Note that includes a list of links to sub-category "Table of Contents". So, the "Main" looks like this: AAAAAAAAAA Table of Contents BBBBBBBBBB Table of Contents CCCCCCCCC Table of Contents etc. When they go to any one of the sub-category "Table of Contents", they will see a list of detail sub-topics that will be links to take them to specific Notes where the detail material resides. I already have the roughly 100 Notes. As I re-edit them, I am adding a link at the start of the Note and one at the end of the Note that will take the user back to the "Main Table of Contents". - - - I'm hoping these tactics will make it possible for the users to navigate around the Notebook quickly and still be able to get back to the mountain top if they get lost. Link to comment
Level 5* DTLow 5,736 Posted January 31, 2016 Level 5* Share Posted January 31, 2016 28 minutes ago, Analyst444 said: I have reason to believe that none of the recipients have ever heard of EN. So, I'm going to have to provide at least a few sentences of instructions in my initial email to them to lead them to EN and to create an account. Do you have an idea on what % of the group will create an Evernote account, compared to accessing via a browser. It might impact on how you present the information. Link to comment
Level 5* CalS 5,280 Posted January 31, 2016 Level 5* Share Posted January 31, 2016 @Analyst444 Sounds like you have a solid plan of attack. Good luck. Link to comment
Level 5* JMichaelTX 4,117 Posted January 31, 2016 Level 5* Share Posted January 31, 2016 48 minutes ago, Analyst444 said: I already have the roughly 100 Notes. As I re-edit them, I am adding a link at the start of the Note and one at the end of the Note that will take the user back to the "Main Table of Contents". - - - I'm hoping these tactics will make it possible for the users to navigate around the Notebook quickly and still be able to get back to the mountain top if they get lost. Sounds like you have a good handle on things. The only other thing I can think is to initially send the email to just a few, 2 or 3, people and ask for their feedback Good luck, and let us know how it goes. Link to comment
Analyst444 182 Posted February 1, 2016 Author Share Posted February 1, 2016 DTLow - I want the users of the public Notebook to be able to search for keywords. To achieve that, my little bit of testing earlier today indicated that it would be best if the user had an EN account. So, my opening instructions to them would be how to create one. Then, I would give them the URL to the public Notebook, indicating they should "Join" it, not "View" it. csihilling - Thanks for the positive feedback. JMichaelTX - I have another EN account (just a "Basic" one). I was going to test out my "get-on-board" instructions with it. But, I think I like your idea of starting with 2 or 3 users is better. Otherwise, my experience with EN may get me through the instructions whereas a newbie would likely stumble. --- I guess what I should do is invite you guys to be on my test team. There is nothing confidential about the information that will be in the public Notebook. If you are interested, let me know. I will let you know how it goes. So far, I am finding that despite already having the 100+ Notes, that it is taking me more time to edit them to be presentable (and understandable) to the public is taking me more time than I expected. (Isn't that always the way?!?) Link to comment
Level 5* JMichaelTX 4,117 Posted February 1, 2016 Level 5* Share Posted February 1, 2016 28 minutes ago, Analyst444 said: Otherwise, my experience with EN may get me through the instructions whereas a newbie would likely stumble. --- I guess what I should do is invite you guys to be on my test team. There is nothing confidential about the information that will be in the public Notebook. If you are interested, let me know. I wouldn't mind testing for you, but I think your first idea is the best: "But, I think I like your idea of starting with 2 or 3 users is better. Otherwise, my experience with EN may get me through the instructions whereas a newbie would likely stumble." We would likely overlook some stumbling blocks as well. It is very hard to have the view a new user without actually being a new user. Here's another thought, if you want to go the extra mile: Create a short video showing them how to use your NB, starting with receipt of the email. Link to comment
Level 5* CalS 5,280 Posted February 1, 2016 Level 5* Share Posted February 1, 2016 @Analyst444 You are welcome. Link to comment
Analyst444 182 Posted February 1, 2016 Author Share Posted February 1, 2016 JMichaelTX - Your video idea is intriguing, but I already have a couple hundred hours invested in gathering and developing the material for this database and I plan on maintaining it. I feel like I've already gone the "extra mile". I think I will wait for feedback from users to see how well they "get it" and go from there. Link to comment
Level 5* DTLow 5,736 Posted February 1, 2016 Level 5* Share Posted February 1, 2016 12 hours ago, JMichaelTX said: Here's another thought, if you want to go the extra mile: Create a short video showing them how to use your NB, starting with receipt of the email. That's a great idea. Its easy do for us Mac users. We have Quick Time pre-installed and it can capture the screen process with a simple record. Link to comment
Level 5* JMichaelTX 4,117 Posted February 1, 2016 Level 5* Share Posted February 1, 2016 9 hours ago, Analyst444 said: I feel like I've already gone the "extra mile". I think I will wait for feedback from users to see how well they "get it" and go from there. No problem. I totally get it. Link to comment
Level 5* gazumped 11,652 Posted February 5, 2016 Level 5* Share Posted February 5, 2016 Hi @Analyst444 - as it happens I'm in process of doing much the same thing; public notebook, users with no EN-savvy at all, 100 or so notes - all managed through a separate basic account so it doesn't have any 'branding' other than the one I'm supplying (and Evernote, of course). In my case the separate notes are all individual events to be announced via social media, as well as the whole collection being available as a reference. I totally agree that everything takes at least twice as long as you expect! Let us know how you get on - it'll be interesting to compare audience reactions once we've got our respective schemes off the ground... Link to comment
Analyst444 182 Posted February 7, 2016 Author Share Posted February 7, 2016 @gazumped - Yes, the challenge is making the material available to a bunch of EN savvy-less people. I'm been spending my time editing the Notes and adding a "Return to Main Table of Contents" line in each to help them get around within the database. So far, I am thinking that this design approach with EN (i.e. several TOCs with Note links) is going to work better for them than the two blogging web sites that I previously tried out. Also, while the bulk of the information in the public Notebook I am building will be static, I plan to distribute (on maybe a monthly basis) a "Newsletter-type" email to the interested parties that includes news on migraines and chronic headaches. It will also include a repeat of instructions on how to access the database. I will keep you apprised of my progress and response from the audience. (Doing so is already an item on my "To Do" list in EN for this project!) Link to comment
Level 5* gazumped 11,652 Posted February 7, 2016 Level 5* Share Posted February 7, 2016 @Analyst444 - not sure if this is of any help (I only just found it) but Steve Dotto has a free Evernote online course on "how to deliver an online course with Evernote" - there really should be a joke in there somewhere. You have to sign up to receive a link to a note with the resources, which I've just done. There might be some things in there we didn't think of yet... http://www.dottotech.com/use-evernote-deliver-online-courses/ Link to comment
Analyst444 182 Posted February 7, 2016 Author Share Posted February 7, 2016 @gazumped - Thanks for the reference. I'll check out Dotto Tech. Link to comment
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