Add Intro and Resources to Help tab

R/help_ui.R

       shiny::tagList(
         shiny::tags$ul(
           id = "help-sidebar",
-          if (!cheatsheet_only) tags$li(
-            shiny::actionLink("help_default", "Introduction"),
-            shiny::actionLink("help_try_this", "Try These Examples")
-          ),
+          if (!cheatsheet_only) shiny::tagList(
+            shiny::tags$li(shiny::tags$strong("RegExplain"), class = "header"),
+            shiny::tags$li(shiny::actionLink("help_default", "Introduction")),
+            shiny::tags$li(shiny::actionLink("help_try_this", "Try These Examples")),
+            shiny::tags$li(shiny::actionLink("help_resources", "Resources")),
+            shiny::tags$li(class = "header", style = "margin-top: 5px;", shiny::tags$strong("Reference"))),
           shiny::tags$li("Character Classes", class = "header"),
           shiny::tags$ul(
             class = "subgroup",

R/regex_gadget.R

     })
 
     # ---- Server - Tab - Help ----
-    HELP_DEFAULT_TEXT <- paste0(
+    HELP_DEFAULT_TEXT <- c(
+      "<div id=\"welcome-to-regexplain\" class=\"section level3\">",
       "<h3>Welcome to RegExplain</h3>",
-      "<p>Choose a category from the menu on the left.</p>"
-    )
+      "<p>If you’re new to regular expressions, one of the best places to start is <a href=\"http://stringr.tidyverse.org/articles/regular-expressions.html\">the regular expressions vignette</a> from <code>stringr</code>. The chapter on strings in <a href=\"http://r4ds.had.co.nz/strings.html\">R for Data Science</a> is also an excellent first resource.</p>",
+      "<p><strong>Exploring or looking for a challenge?</strong> Click on <i>Try These Examples</i> to see what you can do with this addin.</p>",
+      "<div id=\"getting-started\" class=\"section level4\">",
+      "<h4>Getting Started</h4>",
+      "<ul>",
+      "<li><p><i class=\"fa fa-file-text-o\"></i> Enter or edit the <strong>Text</strong> you want to search.</p></li>",
+      "<li><p><i class=\"fa fa-terminal\"></i> Edit your <strong>RegEx</strong> and view matches in real time.</p></li>",
+      "<li><p><i class=\"fa fa-table\"></i> Test the <strong>Output</strong> of your regular expression with common functions, including <i>search and replace</i> functions.</p></li>",
+      "<li><p><i class=\"fa fa-support\"></i> Get <strong>Help</strong> and look up the regular expression syntax.</p></li>",
+      "</ul>",
+      "</div>",
+      "<div id=\"escaping-characters\" class=\"section level4\">",
+      "<h4>Escaping characters</h4>",
+      "<p>In order to store a backslash (<code>\\</code>) as a character in R, backslashes need to be escaped…with another backslash! To write a literal <code>\\</code> in an R character string, you need to actually store <code>&quot;\\\\&quot;</code>.</p>",
+      "<p>In regular expressions, <code>\\w</code> stands for any alphabetical character, but to store it in a string in R you need <code>&quot;\\w&quot;</code>.</p>",
+      "<p>Inside <strong>RegExplain</strong>, however, standard regular expressions can be used so that you can easily copy patterns from other places. When you click on the <span class=\"btn btn-xs btn-primary\">Send RegEX to Console</span> button, the necessary extra <code>\\</code> will be included.</p>",
+      "<p>An extra backslash is still needed to match a literal <code>\\</code> in standard regular expressions. This means that you will need to enter <code>\\\\</code> in the <strong>RegEx</strong> tab, and the output to R will be <code>&quot;\\\\\\\\&quot;</code>.</p>",
+      "</div>")
 
     source(system.file("shiny", "help_server.R", package = "regexplain"), local = TRUE)
 
+    observeEvent(input$help_resources, {
+      tagList(
+        tags$h3("Resources"),
+        tags$p("There are lots of great resources available for learning and working with regular expressions."),
+        tags$h4("Regular Expressions in R"),
+        tags$ul(
+          tags$li(tags$p("The", tags$a(href = "http://stringr.tidyverse.org/articles/regular-expressions.html", "Regular Expressions vignette"),
+                  "from", tags$code("stringr"), "is an excellent first introduction to regular expressions in R.")),
+          tags$li(tags$p("The", tags$a(href = "http://r4ds.had.co.nz/strings.html", "chapter on strings"),
+                  "in", tags$a(href = "http://r4ds.had.co.nz/", "R for Data Science"),
+                  "is also a great overall introduction.")),
+          tags$li(tags$p("RStudio's",
+                  tags$a(href = "https://www.rstudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/RegExCheatsheet.pdf", "RegEx CheatSheet"),
+                  "is a good pocket reference.")),
+          tags$li(tags$p("Or try the", tags$strong("Regexplain Cheatsheet"), "addin installed with this package."))
+        ),
+        tags$h4("Online Resources"),
+        tags$ul(
+          tags$li(tags$a(href = "https://github.com/aloisdg/awesome-regex", "Awesome RegEx")),
+          tags$li(tags$a(href = "https://www.regular-expressions.info", "Regular-Expressions.info"))
+        ),
+        tags$h4("Live Preview and Explanations"),
+        tags$ul(
+          tags$li(tags$a(href = "https://regexr.com", "https://regexr.com")),
+          tags$li(tags$a(href = "https://debuggex.com", "https://debuggex.com")),
+          tags$li(tags$a(href = "https://regex101.com", "https://regex101.com")),
+          tags$li(tags$a(href = "http://www.mactechnologies.com/index.php?page=downloads#regexrx", "RegexRx"), "(app)"),
+          tags$li(tags$a(href = "https://www.regexbuddy.com/", "Regex Buddy"), "(paid app)")
+        ),
+        tags$h4("Regex and String R Packages"),
+        tags$dl(
+          tags$dt(tags$a(href = "https://stringr.tidyverse.org/", "stringr")),
+          tags$dd("A cohesive set of functions designed to make working with strings as easy as possible"),
+          tags$dt(tags$a(href = "http://www.gagolewski.com/software/stringi/", "stringi")),
+          tags$dd("THE R package for very fast, correct, consistent, and convenient string/text processing"),
+          tags$dt(tags$a(href = "https://github.com/trinker/regexr", "regexr")),
+          tags$dd("An R framework for constructing and managing human readable regular expressions"),
+          tags$dt(tags$a(href = "https://github.com/kevinushey/rex", "rex")),
+          tags$dd("Friendly Regular Expressions: complex regular expressions from human readable expressions"),
+          tags$dt(tags$a(href = "https://github.com/richierocks/rebus", "rebus")),
+          tags$dd("Build regular expressions in a human readable way"),
+          tags$dt(tags$a(href = "https://github.com/AdamSpannbauer/r_regex_tester_app", "R Regex Tester")),
+          tags$dd("A Shiny app for testing regular expressions")
+        )
+      ) %>%
+        as.character() %>%
+        help_text()
+    })
+
     load_buttons <- function(..., extra_btns = NULL) {
       prefix <- paste(..., sep = "_")
       btns <- c(

inst/styles/gadget.css

   background-color: #eee;
   text-decoration: none;
 }
+dl {
+  padding: 0.25em;
+}
+dt {
+  float: left;
+  clear: left;
+  width: 80px;
+  text-align: right;
+  font-weight: bold;
+}
+dd {
+  margin-left: 90px;
+  padding: 0 0 0.5em 0;
+}