I’ve spoken to 13 people so far, because I can’t help myself, and have the feeling some people are waiting shyly in the shadows to be invited for a chat.
Could Channel 1 give clear directions about how to check who’s online, send them a direct message, and then start a call if the person’s free? I haven’t tried hangouts, but they don’t always seem to work with just /hangout - maybe because of different software etc.
OK, first of all it’s fantastic! What an absolutely brilliant resource - I wish it had been available when I was too nervous to Skype people!
Actually the first person who’d asked for a chat was caught on a train and couldn’t make it, but then I had a lovely brief call ad hoc with @BronwenLewis who I’ve known for years on the forum but never put a face to!
On the other hand, (sorry to be critical), I’m not enamoured of the interface, and I think it must be possible to make it easier for (Slack) beginners and technophobes.
Ah, I hadn’t actually noticed that! I think a lot of people probably just skip an introduction video - especially a 13 minute one. (Also I’m not sure how many would have been able to follow the link if they’d tried, as it’s currently showing https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=fNJ71loS5Iw and not https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNJ71loS5Iw )
Personally I think a written overview that can be skimmed through in 30 secs or read carefully in 5 mins would be preferable. (In addition to the video, for people who like videos.)
I have to admit that I haven’t watched the video to the end - but I was wondering why are there so many different “Channels” down the side? When I looked, the latest message in several of them was something like “Would somebody like to chat now / soon?”, so maybe there should just be one place for requests like that? Or two at the most. Even after logging on to the page several times, I wasn’t clear about the different purpose of all the channels - the original descriptions have scrolled out of view anyway, now there are so many messages.
And private messages seem to create even more personal channels underneath. Could the public ones be radically simplified?
Just first impressions. But great job - been hoping for this for years!! 
I’ve fine-tuned it a bit, hope that will help (but generally suggest that getting to know someone by talking to them in an open channel is better than starting with a direct message out of the blue 
).
Even after all these years of me saying how much we value criticism?!.. 
Thanks for the catch on the bad link…
With ‘improvements to UX’ in general - the truth is, this stuff is endless, and in my experience, however much time we spend on it so that it feels intuitive to one person, there will immediately be other people who think it needs changing.
So my take on that sort of stuff by now is - specific practical suggestions, I can either agree/implement or disagree/not - but general ‘make it clearer’ is a bit of a dangerous loop…
The written overview in 1-read-this-first is my current best shot. More than happy to add any specific pieces of info that anyone feels needs to be in there…
Well as you know I’m slightly less comfortable as your greatest critic than your greatest fan, but will happily be both!
OK then, when I first logged on I was actually expecting a VOIP space so I didn’t even understand where I’d landed to start with. I think that my dad may have run a mile.
I’m not the greatest at writing instructions, but I wonder if it could be spelled out even more simply? As a starting point, something like this:
Welcome to Welsh Speaking Practice
Through this portal, you can either:
- join a pre-arranged live Welsh chat
or
- join an ad hoc live Welsh chat
Use the Say Hello thread to introduce yourself and join your first chat.
A chat can either be for a group of people (Google Hangout) or one-to-one.
- To start a Google Hangout…
- To start a one-to-one chat…
FAQ:
How can I find out if there is a chat going on now, that I can join?
How can I find out if there is a chat scheduled in the future that I can join?
How can I start my own public chat and make it available for other people to join?
How can I see a list of who is online and start a private chat with someone?
Or whatever the main use-cases are that you want to recommend - I may not be not familiar enough with it.
(Feel free to ignore of course - it’s not easy to do this kind of thing, and that may not be an improvement.)
That’s a terrific contribution… diolch yn fawr iawn!
Just speaking personally, it looks ok to me and I’m not great with computers although I do spend time on social media etc. I will almost definitely be using a laptop for ease. Tablet at a push, but not smart phone just yet. Saying that, as it’s live so to speak, there wont be much typing to do.
One thing that completely slipped my attention was the fact that I could have just jumped in with a one to one conversation. In fairness I thought I had to await an invitation or book up, as with the group sessions, so I didn’t look until last weekend 
I’m not too gutted as I’m still working nights, so apart from hopefully Wednesday night, it will probably be next week before I get into/obsessed with it.
I’d say it is as easy to navigate as this forum. So, as with most things, it takes a small amount of learning to feel comfortable.
So all in all. I’m happy with the presentation
If you ask for the YouTube, you can feature the video on your channel or for all arrivals there or for just new arrivals instead of leaving latest video to be featured (wat YouTube does by default). This surely is one of the ways but I’m not sure your YouTube channel is really meant for such instruction to be featured what is the only downside of the whole thing. YouTube unfortunately doesn’t enable two videos to be featured on one channel.
For the Slack and forum … Sorry, I’m not sure though.
I have very technical question which maybe was issued already or I am too blind to see the obvious.
How to see if one person is engaged in the (whatever) chat? I’m on Slack but I can’t find such things as “in the chat”, “free” or whatever of such kinds so it very well can happen that you try to call someone who is already in another call or even hangout. Would be very practical to have some kind of marks to indicate these things.
Sorry, I don’t want to be a nerd but just thinking practical, that’s all. (obviously I’m too old already and technology is driving over me until I’m flatted with the ground).
I don’t think there is a way to do this, although I agree that it would be a good addition…
What worked for me this afternoon was using the text section to check if anyone was ok to talk first. Thanks @Novem for getting me up and running and also for that bonus chat after your busy day.
@Nicky, sorry I lost contact with you (internet signal), but I’m looking forward to the group session tomorrow evening if I manage to link in ok.
Slack has such a rich ecosystem for developing your own apps and bots you’re bound to be able to do this kind of thing.
That’s what I thought on the first glance … However I’m not a builder + nothing worked for me yesterday. I didn’t even hear the call from someone so I wasn’t aware I was called at all. I didn’t disturb the others as it was all quite busy “mess”.
I’ve just noticed that when people are in a chat, a little phone icon appears next to their name, and hovering your mouse over it brings up ‘on a call’. Can’t remember seeing that before, so if it’s new, kudos to whoever stuck that in!
Awesome spot! Where is this? Next to their name in a channel, or a sidebar or somewhere?
In the member list and next to their name if they’ve written something in a channel
But I think it only shows the person who made the call, not the recipient?
I think it shows both. I think I’ve seen phone icons next to the names of two people who have agreed to chat together. Not sure though 
yes, when Milla and Sharon were chatting last night (just before I made the post above and just before my laptop ran out of battery!) there were phone icons next to both of their names in both the message panel and the member list.
Great! I wonder if it also shows everyone in a hangout?
Not sure - there weren’t any hangouts on when I noticed it, but will keep an eye on what happens when Nicky’s hangout is on tonight.