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ux-usage-guide

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This skill should be used after delivering a tool, system, or workflow when the user wants a guide for how to USE it. Trigger when the user says "make a usage guide", "how-to guide", "onboarding guide", "user guide", "explain how to use this", "guide for my teammates", "document how to use it from the UX side", or wants a user-facing overview oriented to what was delivered (not how it was built). Produces ONE self-contained, light, tabbed interactive HTML guide centered on user stories and copy-paste prompts.

Design

What this skill does


# UX Usage Guide (Interactive HTML)

After shipping something, produce a guide that teaches a person how to USE it — framed
entirely around their experience and the actions they take, not the internals or how it
was built. Output is one light, tabbed, self-contained HTML file.

## When to use

- A tool/system/workflow was just delivered and the user (or their teammates) needs to
  learn to operate it.
- The user explicitly wants the "how to use" angle, or a teammate-facing onboarding doc.

## The angle (most important)

- **User's point of view only.** Document the surfaces the user touches and the moves they
  make. Never explain architecture, build steps, or implementation — those belong in a
  build playbook, not here.
- **Include internals only when the user must act on them** — e.g. which files they read
  vs. add to, a setting they toggle, a folder they drop inputs into. Skip everything else.

## Why it works

People learn a system by seeing themselves do things in it. User stories plus the exact
words to say (copyable) make the guide actionable; a tabbed, terse layout prevents the
"reads like a manual" overwhelm that kills usage guides.

## Workflow

1. **Build one self-contained HTML** per `../_shared/single-file-html-conventions.md`
   (inline CSS/JS, no deps, light/dark). Write it into the repo (usually `docs/`).
2. **Tabbed single-file layout** so only one thing shows at a time. A typical tab set:
   *Overview · Core moves · What you touch · Good to know · Start.*
3. **Overview tab:** one sentence on what it does + the mental model (the 2–3 surfaces the
   user interacts through), as icon cards. Nothing dense.
4. **Core moves tab (the centerpiece):** the N things the user actually does, as a card
   grid. Each card is icon + a one-line *situation*. Tapping a card reveals: the **exact
   words to say** (copy button), what happens, and what they get. Hiding the prompt behind
   a tap keeps the surface scannable.
5. **What you touch tab:** a who-owns-what view of the files/surfaces — which ones the user
   adds to vs. reads vs. co-owns. One-line rows with a small ownership pill; no prose.
6. **Good-to-know tab:** only the few things the user must monitor or respect (a reminder
   field, a status, a house rule like "no secrets"). Small cards, not paragraphs.
7. **Start tab:** a short getting-started checklist with the user's **real paths baked in**
   (interactive checkboxes are a nice touch).
8. **Density is a bug.** If the first pass feels heavy, rebuild lighter — fewer words,
   more whitespace, move detail behind taps. (A too-dense first draft is the common
   failure; a tabbed terse rebuild fixes it.)

## Content patterns

- **Core move card → modal:** situation on the card; "Say this" prompt + numbered "what
  happens" steps in the popup. Provide a Copy button on the prompt.
- **Ownership pills:** `you add` / `you read` / `co-own`, color-coded, on each file row.
- **Mental-model strip:** 2–4 labeled chips naming the surfaces (e.g. "Talk to it",
  "Drop files here", "Browse in <app>").

## Resources

- **`../_shared/single-file-html-conventions.md`** — the shared single-file HTML technique.
- **`references/sections.md`** — the recommended tab set, the core-move card schema, and
  copy-button logic.

## Pitfalls

- Do not slip into "how it was built" — that is a different deliverable.
- Do not dump every file/setting; include only what the user must act on.
- Do not front-load text walls; lead with the moves, hide detail behind interaction.

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