Some entry points for Section translation (T286641) are opportunistic. That is, they appear in certain circumstances where making a translation makes sense (e.g., an article missing for a language the user speaks). These are useful to surface the translation need but also come with a challenge: how can the user return back to the tool later when they want to translate another article?

This ticket proposes to expand the Contribute menu with the ability to announce its main path for discovery to users. That is, a tool such as Content Translation can indicate that users need to know how to find the Contribute menu (i.e., because they have started a translation through a non-persistent entry point). Then users will be shown the path to the contribute menu. This should happen only once and only for users who have not visited the Contribute menu before. Thus, this ticket has three key parts: (a) how to communicate the path to discovery, (b) how a tool (such as Content Translation) can activate the discovery, and (c) how to make sure this happens once at most.

A. How to communicate the path to discovery

This ticket proposes to provide extra guidance to discover the persistent entry point in the navigation menu (T286466) where translations can be accessed anytime. Key aspects of the idea:

• Guidance is supported by two elements: activity dot and tooltip. The activity dot is shown next to the menu to signal there is new activity. Once the menu is opened, a tooltip points to the "Contribute" option to communicate where to go to access translations in the future. The dot and the tooltip should be reused from existing components used for similar guidance. Consistency with existing experiences is more relevant than matching the visual design of the mockups above.
• Once the menu is opened, the elements are not shown again. Opening the menu makes the dot disappear. The tooltip will go away after a few seconds. The user won't see these elements again.

Workflow:

1. Once the discovery mechanism is activated, a popover is shown to the user pointing to the main navigation menu, inviting the user to use it. The "Got it" option allow user to discard the tooltip.
2. Opening the menu shows a dot ext to the contribute option of the menu, inviting the user to access.
3. For users with previous contributions, the "Contribute" tab is not the default and a dot is shown next to it to invite users to try it.
4. Reaching the contribute menu clears the previous dots.

Messages:

Continue contributing
Start or continue your contributions anytime.
[Got it]

B. How a tool (such as Content Translation) can activate the discovery

The mechanism for the discovery of the Contribute entry point is defined as a generic mechanism that is part of the Contribute menu infrastructure. This makes it useful for more tools.

For the particular case of Content Translation, we want to signal the need for discovery of the Contribute menu when users leave the translation editor having started or published a translationfor the first time. The guidance will be provided when the user has accessed the tool though any entry point except from the Contribute menu.

As a result:

• Guidance will be provided only for users that have accessed Section Translation for the first time though an opportunistic entry point. This means that users accessing the tool through the persistent entry point will not see this (they already know how to access the persistent entry point, no need for guidance).
• Guidance is limited to the first access (globally across all wikis). Users accessing the tool multiple times will only see this the first time. This "seen" status should be global across languages. Once we provide this guidance once for a wiki it should not be visible again on a different language.

C. How to make sure this happens once at most.

We need to track two variables in a way that is persisted per user globally, regardless of their device or the wiki where they are:

• Has ever visited Contribute menu.Guidance is only shown for users who have never visited the Contribute page before. If the user has visited the Special:Contribute page, we assume they know how to get there. In such case, none of the above guidance should be shown to the user, even if tools request that may be needed.
• Is convenient to learn how to access the Contribute menu. A tool can signal that may be convenient to show the user how to reach the contribute menu. That will make visible the discovery mechanisms, provided that has never visited the Contribute menu before. The discovery mechanisms will be visible until the user interacts with them.

We also want to allow resetting those variables for testing purposes (e.g., though the JavaScript console)

Engineers can expand with more details on how to support this behavior reliably to avoid users being told repeatedly the same.