Web application help?

Subject: Web application help?
From: "Hart, Geoff" <Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2001 08:31:50 -0500

Megan Golding's company produces <<... a web-based application to configure
an Internet security appliance... The
configuration application needs help files. I will ... write the help files
and will work with the application developer to integrate them into his
work... most users will view help with a Windows-based PC... I need two
things: 1) a method of presenting help to the users (pop-ups, etc.) 2) a
tool for developing help>>

Given your context and the fact that you require platform and browser
independence, I'd say you really don't need any specialized tools such as
RoboHTML: simply coding in vanilla HTML will work just fine, since all you
need to do is add a help button beside each field, for each group of fields,
or for the screen as a whole. Because users will want to have help visible
simultaneously with the application, you should open the help topics reached
via these links in a new window, leaving the original application window
visible beneath it. (That is, use the same approach as WinHelp; users can
reposition and resize the help window however they want.) To open the help
in its own window, use link formatting that resembles: <a href="[page URL]"
target="_blank"> It's the "_blank" part that tells the browser to open a new
window.

<<I have two main options for presenting the help to the user: 1) somewhere
on the web page or 2) in a pop-up window.>>

Do both! In the application itself, spend a fair bit of time understanding
what each field does or means, and add affordances (e.g., labels, formatting
cues, careful wording, validity checking) to the screen to ensure that users
understand what the field refers to. The goal here is to minimize the need
to ever open the help file. Then open the help windows as I proposed in the
previous paragraph. You'd mentioned keeping the help on the same screen,
perhaps using frames, but that's problematic for some users and in my
opinion, adds more complexity than is necessary.

--Geoff Hart, FERIC, Pointe-Claire, Quebec
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
"User's advocate" online monthly at
www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/usersadvocate.html

"Technical writing... requires understanding the audience, understanding
what activities the user wants to accomplish, and translating the often
idiosyncratic and unplanned design into something that appears to make
sense."--Donald Norman, The Invisible Computer

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Develop HTML-based Help with Macromedia Dreamweaver! (STC Discount.)
**NEW DATE/LOCATION!** January 16-17, 2001, New York, NY.
http://www.weisner.com/training/dreamweaver_help.htm or 800-646-9989.

Sponsored by DigiPub Solutions Corp, producers of PDF 2001
Conference East, June 4-5, Baltimore/Washington D.C. area.
http://www.pdfconference.com or toll-free 877/278-2131.

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.


Previous by Author: Right-click menu?
Next by Author: Interviews
Previous by Thread: RE: how do you say? 12 O' clock in a manual?
Next by Thread: re: Web application help?


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads