Create `add-gitignore` branch when it becomes relevant

[SvanBoxel]

Just a suggestion, feel free to close:

Can we not create the add-gitignore branch until it's relevant for the user? (Step 2 of the course I believe?)

Now people start the course with a big yellow banner that draws everyone's attention. In my it's-still-monday way of thinking I clicked on it and was slightly confused. Only after that I went to the issues tab to find out I had to follow those instructions. (Even though I followed learning lab courses before)

[brianamarie]

This is a very good point, @SvanBoxel. I agree that it would be best if we could have the branch come later. I believe this isn't yet possible. 😞 @JasonEtco Could you please confirm? Also, could you point us in the right direction to asking for this feature in Learning Lab and tracking specific use cases to help prioritize the feature?

[brianamarie]

Alternatively, we've gone back and forth in the past to have a user create their own branch and open their own pull request. We could instruct them to create their own branch and .gitignore file, and then respond to their pull request. 🤔

[brianamarie]

Continuing to think through this, I think I like the idea of having the branch created, though it is annoying and could mislead people. Maybe we could try to combat this by putting a note in the first issue acknowledging them, and saying we'll address them later?

[SvanBoxel]

I'm not sure what the possibilities are. I do think that for this course we should only bother the user with tasks that are relevant. Creating a .gitignore file isn't relevant, but would solve the problem. Your last suggestion will still cause people to maybe open a PR from that branch when they start the course. Enlighten us @JasonEtco 😄

[brianamarie]

@crichID brought up in a standup that while we can't choose when to create branches, we can open pull requests earlier in the course. I'm working on that now.