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I like the tooltips better than either of the approaches you've suggested. If I'm confused, I glance at them and then am less confused. If I'm not confused, I just dismiss them, not feeling guilty.

I hate "help" mechanisms that keep popping up in normal operation, because usually I know exactly what I'm doing in normal operation.

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You're on point, these help mechanisms should be rare and few, or they would be a nuisance as well.

The problem with forced screen of tooltips in the very beginning is that you haven't had a chance to explore the app yet, and so it's hard to mentally assign importance to them. And later, they're gone.

Offer a "Help" action that brings them back for whatever screen you're currently on.

This is my issue with them. Maybe I do need a tooltip to figure some feature out. But I certainly don't know which one I need yet.

If you bombard me with "Hit the + button to make a new document!" on first launch, of course I'm going to dismiss the tips. It's 2015. Figured that one out on my own.

Better to design an app where functions aren't hidden in secret menus and I can explore without accidentally screwing things up. Is that too much to ask?

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