RE: Voice-over in online tutorials - opinions?

["SHIELDS,SUSAN (HP-FtCollins,ex1)" <susan_shields2 -at- hp -dot- com>]

Hi Abby,

In reference to voice-over in online tutorials you asked:

>Has anyone experienced this same issue? Any advice or insights on the
>trade-offs? Does it really enhance the user experience? Is it worth the
>time (that we could be spending on something else, like creating more
>tutorials?)

A group I worked with until about eight months ago (and that I still have
contact with) has a Flash tutorial with similar features to the one you
describe. My personal opinion of that tutorial is that the voice-over is
distracting, doesn't add value or enhance the user experience (for this
particular application), makes the files even bigger, and is tedious and
expensive to generate and maintain. The rest of that group has developed
reservations about the voice-over, also, and is considering whether to
design it out for the next version. The user's have been fairly vocal about
not liking the sound part. 

The big caveat in what I've just written is "for this particular
application." There are applications where I think sound would probably be
really beneficial. "Because we can" or "we have the technology" aren't good
enough reasons to add a feature to any project; "because it would be fun"
isn't even good enough (although I confess my own entertainment is sometimes
the reason for my designs). "Because the CTO wants to" might be a compelling
political reason, but I find that many in mid/upper management are mightily
motivated by a concise analysis of return on investment (or lack of same).
The valid reasons for adding or excluding features come out of audience and
project analysis. What does the user need? What works well for them? What is
appropriate for the product/project. And (especially for the management
folks), what is the cost/benefit relationship?

Susan

-----Original Message-----
From: aschiff -at- factset -dot- com [mailto:aschiff -at- factset -dot- com]
Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2001 9:38 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Voice-over in online tutorials - opinions?

Hello,

Background:
My group is involved with creating online tutorials for a number of our
software applications. These tutorials contain a mix of text, static
images, and interactive elements (done in Flash) in which a user can:
* View a demo of the feature being discussed
* Try it out themselves

In both the "demo" and the "try it" scenarios, there are small boxes of
text that appear describing what's going on (and, in the case of the "try
it," tell the user what to do.)

Issue:
We've had very good results so far with these tutorials.  Now our CTO is
suggesting that we add a voice-over element that "reads" the text in the
text-box.
I really see no reason to do this; to me, voice-overs are distracting.
Also, our software changes frequently and having to change the voice-over
would add significantly to our turnaround time, and it would create larger
files & longer download times.

Has anyone experienced this same issue? Any advice or insights on the
trade-offs? Does it really enhance the user experience? Is it worth the
time (that we could be spending on something else, like creating more
tutorials?)

Thanks,
Abby Schiff

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