[Autocrypt] Lost newcomer

[holger]

Hi Jan, all,

I went ahead and quickly drafted a work-in-progress 
improvement (hopefully) for the entry page, please find it here:

    https://autocrypt.org/en/newcomerentry/

Would this have been more helpful for you? 

Note that the heise.de/posteo news which pointed to our docs
caught us a little by surprise -- we aim to release 
the L1 spec and finalize the web page rather by thursday.
Any help you can provide to improve it is very welcome.

holger


On Tue, Dec 19, 2017 at 23:32 +0100, holger wrote:
> Hi Jan,
> 
> On Tue, Dec 19, 2017 at 17:10 +0100, Jan Simon wrote:
> > Dear readers,
> > 
> > I'm not sure if this is the right channel to post this message, but I did
> > not find another way.
> 
> that's a fine channel and thanks for dropping by. 
>  
> > I was interested in Autocrypt, because my trials to work with PGP have not
> > been successful. I've opened the homepage
> > https://autocrypt.org/en/latest/index.html
> > and hoped to find some useful explanations. The link "What is autocrypt?"
> > looked perfectly. But what do I find there? No description of what autocrypt
> > is. It is explained, what the problem with emails is, why a new approach is
> > needed. I read that "diverse group of mail app developers hackers and
> > researchers" work in this project and where which meetings took place. It is
> > mentioned, which headers are added to the emails, and that the future
> > process will have different "Levels".
> 
> Would it have helped if on the front page we say something like "Autocrypt is a security
> specification which can be implemented by mail applications" early on? 
> 
> > This is written by someone, who is very familiar with the project. 
> 
> Do you maybe have a suggestion what we could answer to "What is Autocrypt" in one sentence? 
> 
> > But for a
> > newcomer as me, essential questions are left open:
> > 1. What is autocrypt?
> > 2. Can I install it on one of my devices, PC, tablet, smartphone,
> > Blackberry?
> 
> Did you try "Test IT" link or the button? 
> 
> > 3. What will my communication partners have to do to read my mails?
> 
> Your partner's mail applications need to be "autocrypt-capable" and that
> is something that still takes a while, i am afraid.  It's still early
> days for autocrypt adoption as described on the Test It homepage. 
> In fact we are just about to release the finalized Level 1 specification.
> 
> We need mail application developers to implement the spec -- the
> site is aimed at mail developers and technically interested users.
> You can not "install autocrypt" as you can install a mail program.
> 
> That being said, i think during 2018 and with more Autocrypt enabled
> mail apps available, the home page could change more to address
> end-users.
> 
> Lastly, indeed MUA is specification jargon in commong use since 30 years or so
> and means "Mail User Agent", in the entry pages and the front page of the
> spec we rather use "mail app" or "mail application.  Both terms have
> their use and justification.
> 
> best and thanks for your feedback,
> holger
> 
> 
>