Good point.
The first question that could be asked is: Is the mental model of “apps” and “app store” the right one for a decentralized internet? Which would lead us obviously into a longer discussion.
If we focus on fixing the current flow and mental model “app store”, I think this could be solved from two sides.
From the app side:
It would be crucial to find a way how to know where the user came from (cookies? would you do it differently in dapps?).
There are basically three main states:
– A) User discovered graphitedocs.com, started there the signup process to Blockstack and then comes back the first time to the Graphite app
– B) User signed up via Blockstack.com or any other dapp and finds Graphite in the App Store, and enters Graphite the first time
– C) User is an active user of Graphite, created documents etc. , opens the Blockstack app store and enters the app.
In none of the cases above, I would recommend sending the user back to your main landingpage/homepage graphitedocs.com. One reason is that it feels not like progress, but a bit broken, if you end up somewhere, where you have been before. Another reason is that you want to lead users to a particular next step in their journey, and your landingpage was built for a different purpose, so there should be a better option for the user.
– For case A) It would be great to send the user directly into the app to your first onboarding step for first time signed in users. (That would be currently the app overview screen, I guess? … maybe in future you might consider to give first time users a bit more of a guidance with some tutorial cards or coach marks etc.)) As the user has started the signup process on graphitedocs.com through Blockstack, the authentication for Graphite should be implicitly part of that flow.
– For case B) Even though the user doesn’t know a lot about Graphite yet, at least the user is already familiar with the dapp concept and Blockstack. Which means you can focus a bit more on your apps and features than selling the overall concept. In order to keep the “app feeling” a bit alive, I could imagine to send the user on a welcome page that feels not like homepage but more like welcome screens and the beginning of onboarding tutorials that you are used to see after you downloaded an app in the iOS or Mac AppStore. (All these apps tell you still something about the app concept, and educate you how to use it.)
The main difference to classic homepage is that the flow process could be much more streamlined, no distracting navigation options etc… but just one flow that leads as soon as possible to the oauth screen and then into the app.
– For case C) The user is sent directly into the main view of the app (overview screen with your Graphite apps) or maybe even better, if the last session was not long ago (last 12hours or something) directly back to that site/document where the user left the last session.
From Blockstack App Store side:
Currently the App Store lacks something very important for the experience of a store, which is at least quick descriptions about the apps. Obviously in the best case it would go in the direction we know from other big stores, that includes little app profile screens with descriptions, screenshots and most important some user ratings and comments.
When the App Store becomes a bit more richer in that direction, it will be also more and more unnecessary to redirect users to the app landing pages.
Does that make any sense?
Currently a bit a hurry, therefore haven’t had the chance to think about all this twice… sorry.