Observations from watching an elder new lichess player using Chess Basics modules

[tmarplatt]

First of all thanks to Lichess devs that make it such a great site and app in general! I want to let you know I helped sign up and onboard an elder woman on Lichess, one who is nonetheless apt with technology and devices. She's playing on lichess via desktop browser on her laptop.

I showed her the Chess Basics modules which are otherwise excellent! But I made the following observations:

1. She was confused by the interactivity of lessons in general, because the instructions never explain the opponent will make a move if and only if it means losing her piece, even though she can keep making as many moves as she can as long as they don't lose her a piece.
2. When she makes a bad move, and therefore "fails" an interactive lesson, if the opponent makes a move (e.g. in the “Combat” module) she doesn't see the move happen because the “Puzzle failed! RETRY” message pops up instantly, swallowing her attention. She kept failing to understand what happened because she was being distracted again and again, always missing the opponent move.
3. When you complete a stage (by beating the final lesson) the congratulations non-modal dialogue pops up instantly, covering the board, and you can't dismiss it without either changing lesson or returning to the Chess Basics menu. This prevented her from having one last look at the board and reflecting on her last move. This was particularly bad for the final lesson of Check In One, where she didn't fullly understand moving the knight produced a discovered check (she mistakenly thought the whole point was the destination of her knight, never seeing the discovered attack).

I think these problems can be worked upon:

The first issue is a matter of reminding players (in lessons after “Capture”) they can lose pieces to the opponent, if you think this is worth addressing.

For the second issue, the frontend could delay displaying the “RETRY” message, until after the computer makes its move.

For the third issue, simply allow players to click out and/or close the dialog, without changing the board. Perhaps showing a continue-like message on the right.

That is all, I hope this has been constructive. 😄