I did user assistance for 15 years before I switched to focusing on information architecture and usability. What is obvious to me from both the research (which exists but is limited compared to may other topics) is that the more the assistance is in the interface (labels, examples in fields, little popups or expanding notes, and such) the more people succeed in tasks and the less they want to look at an independent Help page or application.
FAQ, in fact, are not a standard for good user assistance. As someone mentioned last week at the STC conference, FAQ are not really the most asked questions, they are the questions the site has an answer for. Many people working on the Web do not appear to design the user assistance into the site; they tack it on at the end. Help that is accessed only by opening a new page in the same browser window, a new browser window, or a new tab, are making it very difficult for users to continue doing the task at the same time they are looking at the Help. There is a reason that desktop applications open Help in a separate window that the user can resize, reposition, and so on. Even the Help authoring tool companies, such as Adobe RoboHelp, do little to allow you to integrate user assistance into the actual page where it is needed or make it usable alongside the page a user seeks help with. Good user assistance, like a good application, requires people with expertise not only writing, but in information architecture (online Help was very close to being the first hypertext environments requiring what we now call information architecture) and interaction design. It has to be part of the initial planning and design of a site, not a last minute add-on. Anyone who wants to know the value of embedded user assistance (incorporated into the UI) should read Trevor Grayling's May 1999 report on usability studies of an app with embedded Help and without it, in Technical Communications, which is available on Ingenta, http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/stc/tc?originator=stc&identity=id22521367×tamp=20090511213425&signature=d7dca185bc7326477ec5fd7a92e62c7b. There is also a special issue of TechComm from Feb 2001 on embedded Help. STC members have free access to all content. Non-members pay a $10 fee per article. There is also information at the Web site of the Usability and User Experience community of STC, of which I am the current manager. www.stcsig.org/usability Look particularly in the Bookshelf and Topics in Usability. Some is dated, but good nonetheless. WritersUA, http://www.writersua.com/rescontr.htm also has list of consultants who specialize in help design and implement effective help systems for desktop or Web. -- Mary Deaton Manager, STC Usability and User Experience Community, http://www.stcsig.org/usability Principal, Deaton Interactive Design http://www.mmdeaton.com Associate, SodaBlue Partners http://www.sodabluepartners.com On Mon, May 11, 2009 at 7:57 AM, Mary Connor <mcon...@advsol.com> wrote: > It is a contentious topic. I summarized multiple sessions from the Software > User Assistance conference just held in Seattle: > > UA2009: Documentation's changing world (has Help research results) > http://www.cleverhamster.com/clever_hamster/2009/04/ua2009-documentations-changing-world.html > > UA2009: Embedded user assistance (help in context) > http://www.cleverhamster.com/clever_hamster/2009/04/ua2009-embedded-user-assistance-help-in-context.html > > ...and we're taking this to heart and (with our R&D change to agile/scrum) > are making it job one to have the writers improve the interface/flow itself > and the "hidden" help: labels, titles, tips, examples, on-screen guidance. > Much higher ROI. > > Hth! > Mary Connor > > -----Original Message----- > From: new-boun...@ixda.org [mailto:new-boun...@ixda.org] On Behalf Of Bill > Marshall > > Help functionality is a recurring point of contention in nearly every project > I work on. I do Voice UX design, and very often our products are used in-car > where users can't or shouldn't be looking at a screen for cues. <snip> > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... disc...@ixda.org > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
