Show the learner transformation from tutorials to independent projects

[alexeygrigorev]

Problem and intended outcome

Visitors should recognize the change from following examples to completing a project of their own, with support along the way. The current transformation section undersells that outcome; the nearby benefit blurbs are unclear and imply inaccurate guarantees about reviewer experience and event cadence.

The user approved the transformation copy and a new final illustration with “yes let's do that”, then expanded the task to the benefit blurbs with “also here, some things don't make sense”. The user subsequently gave an explicit exception to database-only content for this task: “for the landing page it's okay - let's keep it in the template”. This latest instruction governs implementation. Raw intake and the approved wording remain in this issue's original history and intake comments.

Normative references

• Database-only public content: the user explicitly exempts this landing-page copy change and directs that its copy remain in the template; the general rule is otherwise unchanged.
• Course/cohort boundaries: copy does not add capabilities or promise peer review for self-paced delivery.
• Design system and illustration assets: established homepage shell, watercolor treatment, theme pairing, and step dimensions.
• Website illustrations skill: generate against chroma, retain generation evidence, inspect edges on the real page.
• Verification strategy, selective verification, and process.

Scope and ownership

Change the signed-out homepage / and its existing /unified/ alias: the transformation section at #climb-heading, the benefit blurbs at #promises-heading, and Step 3's light/dark illustration pair. Keep the existing arrangement and existing navigation targets. The accessible heading for the benefits should describe learning across courses and community events, such as “How you’ll learn”.

Edit the approved copy directly in templates/core/home.html, as the user explicitly requested. Do not add a ContentDocument, ingest payload, new read service, database change, conditional content-absence behavior, or general-purpose CMS. Static image bytes remain design assets. Do not rewrite unrelated homepage copy under this issue.

The engineer owns the template and any necessary existing test adjustments. The orchestrator owns the Step 3 assets and generation record. Preserve the shared checkout's existing staged artwork/docs; use an isolated implementation worktree. Preview on http://localhost:8000/ must ultimately show the finished template and image pair.

Exact transformation copy

Headline: From following tutorials to building your own projects.

Subtitle: Take a free course in data or AI, learn alongside others, and put your skills into a project of your own.

1. Where do I go from here?
   I’ve watched tutorials and tried the examples. But when I start something of my own, I’m not sure how to put it all together.
2. I’m building, with help along the way
   Each lesson gives me something to put into practice. When I get stuck, I have people to ask and other approaches to learn from.
3. I built this. What’s next?
   I’ve taken a problem from an idea to a working project. I understand my decisions, have work I’m proud to share, and feel ready to take on more.

Exact benefit copy

1. Practice as you learn — Put each lesson into practice with hands-on homework.
2. Learn from each other — Review fellow learners’ projects and get feedback on your own.
3. Learn from practitioners — Explore how people use data and AI through talks, workshops, and Q&A sessions.

Step 3 visual

Show the learner demonstrating their own working project while another person tries it. The learner's changed role must be understandable at the rendered card size. Use the currently staged repaired light Step 3 as the style/composition starting point. Keep the established watercolor style, calm density, figure scale, integrated irregular wash, and 957×532 step canvas. Generate the dark companion separately from the accepted new light composition. Match the established hand-drawing treatment and retain the soft edges in both themes. Update descriptive alt text if required by the final scene. Do not alter the hero, Step 1, or Step 2 assets as part of this issue.

Non-goals, dependencies, and permissions

No new course behavior, guaranteed outcome/job claim, mentor promise, weekly event guarantee, authentication change, new public route/API, content-model/read-service/ingestion/database change, or broad homepage redesign. No production/private data, credentials, or registration details in artifacts. No external blocking issue. Authenticated / keeps the member homepage; permissions and API parity are unchanged because no API or mutation surface is added.

Acceptance criteria

• Signed-out / and /unified/ render the exact transformation headline, subtitle, and three ordered card titles/bodies above, with the old section prose removed.
• The same pages render the exact three benefit title/body pairs above, with an accurate accessible section heading and no old reviewer-experience, leaderboard, or weekly-event claims in this section.
• The approved copy remains directly in templates/core/home.html under the user's explicit landing-page exception; there are no content-model, read-service, ingestion, database, or content-absence behavior changes.
• New Step 3 light/dark images clearly show the learner demonstrating their project while another person tries it, retain 957×532 dimensions and established visual treatment, and display without a hard border, chroma fringe, clipped wash, or unwanted bright rim. Other illustration assets remain outside this change.
• Desktop and mobile rendered evidence in light and dark confirms all copy is readable, titles/bodies wrap naturally, illustrations remain coherent at card size, and neither section introduces overflow, overlap, or broken layout. Existing section order and links remain usable.
• Authenticated / still renders the member homepage with its existing private response policy; the marketing change does not leak into it. Existing canonical/alias behavior remains intact.
• The finished reviewed copy and image pair are visible in the user's local preview at http://localhost:8000/, preserving unrelated existing staged work. Any publication beyond the isolated change must respect the existing checkout's divergent/unrelated commits.
• Engineer handoff and independent tester-final report bind the frozen base/head and worktree state, graph/plan digests, every component exactly once, actual command counts, and inspected screenshot artifacts; no required skip or pending screenshot remains at tester/PM acceptance.

Meaningful verification scenarios

Django/integration: run relevant existing homepage rendering and authenticated-home coverage, plus the plan's required quality components. Adjust any existing assertion invalidated by the approved copy or final image alt text. No new prose-only tests or database/ingestion tests are required for this small template/assets change.

Browser: anonymous / at desktop and mobile in both themes, scrolling through the transformation and benefit bands; inspect Step 3 at actual size and enlarged edges; exercise existing nearby course/event navigation and theme switching; confirm authenticated member homepage through appropriate existing coverage. Existing empty course/event states remain unchanged. Template changes require the full applicable Playwright tier under the process, plus graph-derived route/state screenshots captured and opened by the independent tester under .tmp/screenshots/.

Repository/operations: confirm the diff stays within template/assets scope; retain raw image prompts/sources/output and final hashes under project .tmp/; preserve existing staged files; produce the versioned verification plan and classify rerun/reused/not-applicable evidence without undocumented skips. No content ingestion or database operation is part of this task.

[alexeygrigorev]

The user expanded the approved homepage change with: "also here, some things don't make sense" and a screenshot of the three benefit blurbs.

Current copy:

• Real homework, public leaderboard — You build it weekly, not watch it.
• Peer review — Feedback from people one step ahead of you.
• Weekly live events — Practitioners on the thing you just broke.

The orchestrator communicated these concrete replacements in response:

• Practice as you learn — Put each lesson into practice with hands-on homework.
• Learn from each other — Review fellow learners’ projects and get feedback on your own.
• Learn from practitioners — Explore how people use data and AI through talks, workshops, and Q&A sessions.

This extends the same issue to correcting the benefit blurbs. It does not authorize a broader homepage redesign or changes to course delivery, peer-review eligibility, or event scheduling.

[alexeygrigorev]

Grooming Complete

Ready for implementation. Scope is the approved transformation copy, corrected three benefit blurbs, and a Step 3 light/dark pair showing the learner demonstrating their own project while another person tries it.

The database-only rule applies to this editorial copy. Use one bounded ContentDocument singleton through the existing published catalogue and explicit reviewed ingestion path; omit both sections when the record is absent. This requires no new model, CMS, or deployment seed. Include the payload in ingestion validation and replay identity, and populate the local preview through explicit ingest.

The issue now includes exact copy, static-asset boundaries, empty-state/authenticated behavior, desktop/mobile light/dark scenarios, and frozen independent verification evidence requirements. No external dependency blocks work. Preserve the existing staged artwork/docs in the shared checkout.

[alexeygrigorev]

User direction and revised Grooming Complete

The user explicitly directed: “for the landing page it's okay - let's keep it in the template”.

This overrides the prior database-only interpretation for this landing-page task. The groomed issue is revised to direct template copy edits plus Step 3 light/dark assets. All ContentDocument, ingestion, database, replay, and absent-payload criteria are removed. No such implementation is required or in scope.

Ready for the engineer: retain the exact approved transformation and benefit copy, apply it directly in templates/core/home.html, preserve the existing section arrangement and authenticated-home branch, and verify desktop/mobile light/dark rendering with the independent tester. The user’s local preview must show the finished result while preserving unrelated staged work.