Give us effect previews in the menu so we can see what each setting does before we use it.
After Effects has a lot of really cool features but they are all in a listing without any real context. You need to know what each thing does before you attempt to use it and that kind of creates a steep learning curb for people who are trying to jump in and figure things out intuitively.
In Illustrator, for example, the menu has preview gifs built in which show you what each item does before you attempt to use it. It's very straightforward and simple and doesn't overwhelm the workspace with a bunch of image previews flashing at once.
If you want or need more information about a feature, it offers a "learn more" to link you out to guides and explanations on feature usage.
After Effects should incorporate a simple preview system like this into their interface. Give the user a quick 7 second preview of the effect in use so they know what the result would be if they applied it correctly.
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