Mark new settings and features with a dot until the user interacts with them

[TonybynMp4]

Problem

New settings and features ship often, and many land in a long Settings page or behind a keybinding. Unless someone reads the release notes, a feature that solves their problem can go unnoticed for months. Release notes (#17983) help people who go looking. Nothing in the app shows people who don't.

Proposal

A registry of new items, each tagged with the version that introduced it. Each item shows a small dot where it appears until the user interacts with it.

Mock of roughly what it could look like:

• Registry. Each entry names the item (a setting, keybinding, or feature) and the version that introduced it. When a feature is removed, its entry goes too, so it is never flagged.
• Who sees what. An item is new to a user when it was introduced after the version they first launched, and they haven't interacted with it yet. Upgrading from 0.0.30 to 0.0.40 shows every item from that range that still exists.
• Nightly. Nightly users see the dot as soon as the item ships in a nightly. If they interact with it then, it stays cleared after the stable release.
• Clearing. Interacting with the item clears its dot. Simply navigating to the page that contains it doesn't. In the mockup, hovering the row for a moment counts.
• Parents. The Settings nav entry and section headers show a dot while any item inside is still new, and clear once every item inside has been seen.
• Keybindings. They live in Settings, so they get a dot on the Keybindings section and on the keybinding itself.
• "New" section. While anything is new, a "New in 0.0.35" entry sits at the top of the Settings nav. It lists every new item with where it lives and the version that added it, plus a "Mark all as seen" action. It disappears once everything has been seen.
• Static dot. No animation.

Screenshots are from an HTML mockup. The new setting names are made up.

Questions for maintainers

1. Fresh installs. Should a new user see nothing, or the latest stable release's items as a short introduction?
2. What counts as interacting. Hover, focus, click, or changing the value? Hover doesn't exist on touch screens, so mobile needs its own rule. Should a quick mouse pass count?
3. Where "seen" is stored. Per device is simplest. Per environment means clearing a dot on desktop also clears it on mobile and web connected to the same server.
4. Parent dots. Should a parent clear only once every child inside has been seen, or as soon as the parent is opened?
5. Which items qualify. Should every new setting be registered automatically, while features are flagged only when maintainers choose? Is that split right?
6. Beyond Settings. Should features with no settings row, like a new panel or command, get a dot where they appear, or only an entry in the New section?
7. Registry extras. Is a setting to turn the dots off needed? Should release notes link straight to the setting or feature they mention (#17983)?