Polish Help + Guides: fix broken copy, IA, content, and visuals (Help/Guide/Playbook) #333

Summary

Help Centre, Guide (/guide ≡ /how-it-works), and Tutor Playbook are messy: most Help parent articles are “Coming soon,” live Guide pages show raw i18n keys, fee/account/badge copy contradicts itself, Tutor Playbook is a wall of text with no cover art, and Help duplicates Playbook scripts. This issue covers structure, content truth, and design hooks so parents/tutors can scan and trust the pages before V1 launch.

Related: #115 (Help Centre — closed, stubs remain), handbook MD set, open #258 (centre block on guide), #230 (/guide/community — do not put on hub until built). Freestyle shop #325–#329: only a short “coming” stub if needed — don’t overpromise.

Tim owns art/covers separately (CEO assigning). This issue is for eng + content on the pages.

Live bugs (P0 — ship-blocking)

1. Broken i18n on /guide/parents

“What MatchMax does not do” shows raw keys:

• guide.parents.not_dash_label / _body
• guide.parents.not_collection_label / _body
• guide.parents.not_lesson_quality_label / _body

Code maps ["dash","collection","lesson_quality"] but en.json has not_lessons_*, not_cut_*, not_schedule_*. Align keys ↔ locale.

Files: src/routes/guide.parents.tsx, src/features/i18n/locales/en.json (and zh if mirrored).

2. Broken i18n on /guide/verification

Live shows guide.verification.tier2_title / _body and tier1_* — missing in locale (only professionals_* present). Add Tier 1 / Tier 2 (Gold Verified) strings.

Files: src/routes/guide.verification.tsx, en.json.

3. Contradictory product copy (pick one truth, rewrite everywhere)

4. Help hub honesty

Parents tab: 7/9 articles “Coming soon”. Tutors tab: duplicate handbook (draft featured “Coming soon” beside published handbook). Hide drafts from hub/featured or publish. Don’t look like a finished Help Centre while empty.

Goals

A. Information architecture

/help     → hub only (search, Parents|Tutors tabs, featured, WhatsApp+email contact)
/guide    → marketing “Why MatchMax” + short FAQ (source of truth for money/matching stays on subpages)
/guide/parents|tutors|notes|refer|verification → short product-truth pages (keep; fix bugs)
/tutor-playbook → either slim cover+TOC linking into Help Client Mastery, OR redirect to Help and deprecate duplicate scripts

Parents Help (publish in this order)

1. How matching works (canonical journey; can deep-link Guide once fixed)
2. Request a tutor / browse
3. First trial prep
4. Choosing a tutor (how to read a card)
5. Money: 1.5-lesson fee + when to FPS + paying tutor after lesson 2
6. Notes / study packs (20% — link /guide/notes)
7. Rematch / poor fit (one named policy)
8. Cancel & reschedule (24h)
9. Verification explained
10. Lesson safety
    Curricula / progress tracking = P2.

Tutors Help

• One handbook hub (remove duplicate Coming-soon featured card)
• Keep depth: Delivery & admin · Client mastery · Decoding students · Lesson blueprints · Safeguarding
• Quick start: claim case → first 48h
• Fees & cancellations

B. Content rules (lock in)

• Commission: 1.5 lessons once per match (not % of ongoing).
• Concierge: first 2 lessons with MatchMax on call → then parent↔tutor schedule directly.
• Notes: pay MatchMax by FPS, platform 20%, tutor paid monthly.
• Referral: 15% of admin fee.
• No in-app chat — WhatsApp group + concierge; say it explicitly.
• Playbook promises a separate “Lesson Quality Guide” — create the route or remove the sentence.
• Deduplicate Playbook scripts vs Help client-mastery / delivery-standards (one home, “read next” links).
• Fix truncated short-term case fee string in tutor FAQ locale.
• Soften pedagogy walls with TOC + skimmable tables; fix double H1 on Help articles.
• Contact: WhatsApp primary (per [Feature] Airbnb-Style Help Centre Architecture & Tutor Success Guide Scaffolding (/help) (Pls also make the help centre at the top bar of our website for easy access) #115 intent), email secondary.
• Do not add Centre (# Issue C3 — Centre block on the guide #258) or Community (Issue C12 — (community feature, stage 1) Guide page #230) to Help hub until those pages exist.
• Optional one-liner: Tutor services / freestyle coming (don’t confuse with notes-only shop).

C. Visual / UX (Ryan + Tim assets)

• Replace diagram placeholders (raw diagram blocks in Help MD) with Tim’s assets (CEO assigning Tim separately).
• Guide hero: break wall-of-text with comparison visual.
• Playbook: real cover/hero (not text-only PageIntro).
• Help featured cards: cover images.
• Sticky TOC / ContentsRow on long Help articles (desktop dual-rail as [Feature] Airbnb-Style Help Centre Architecture & Tutor Success Guide Scaffolding (/help) (Pls also make the help centre at the top bar of our website for easy access) #115 intended).
• “Coming soon” empty state: friendly art + CTA to Guide/WhatsApp — not bare stub.

Out of scope

• Building Community feed UI or Shop top-nav.
• Freestyle listing UI (Epic: Freestyle micro-services / gig marketplace (extends notes shop) #325–Discovery: shop row / filters for non-note freestyle offerings #329) beyond a short stub mention.
• In-app chat ([PARKED] Epic: community public posts — do not build in V1 #218 no-chat).
• Rewriting Notes ban list substance (/guide/notes is already the best page — light visual polish only).
• Creating Tim’s Task Board rows (CEO owns).

Acceptance criteria

• /guide/parents and /guide/verification show real English (and zh) — zero raw guide.* keys.
• Fee timing, account-to-request, badge colour, and punctuality are consistent across Guide FAQ, Guide subpages, Help, and Playbook.
• Help Parents hub shows only published articles (or clearly labelled drafts hidden from featured).
• One tutor handbook entry point; no duplicate Coming-soon handbook card.
• Playbook either links to a real Lesson Quality Guide or drops that promise; scripts not triple-copied.
• Parent money + cancel/reschedule + rematch + verification + trial prep articles published (or explicitly deferred with issue links).
• Diagram placeholders replaced or removed; Playbook + Help featured ready for Tim covers.
• Contact block: WhatsApp + email.
• No Centre/Community hub entries until pages ship.

Implementation notes

• Help registry: src/features/help/content.ts + src/features/help/content/*.md
• Guide locales: src/features/i18n/locales/en.json (guide.*, hiw.*_faq)
• Routes: guide.parents.tsx, guide.verification.tsx, tutor-playbook, help/*
• Design tokens: DESIGN.md — Ink #0F1419, Azure #1D9BF0, dual-tone navy+sky like public/nav-*.png