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> I did a usability study for my last client in which I
> recommended that they start using drop-down hotspots in their
> help pages. The recommendation had two purposes: first, to
> reduce the number of help files the company maintained;
> second, to improve the readability and navigability of the help files.
Note that content in drop-down (or expandable) links will be found while
searching, but not displayed when the user opens the topic.
> The company currently maintains over 7,000 help files and
> this number is sure to increase. By using drop-down hotspots,
> they could reduce the number of help files they maintain by a
> third or more.
Is this "7,000 Help files" or "7,000 Help topics"?
<snip>
> ...<snip> One change is that window-level
> context sensitivity no longer exists; that is, the question
> mark that used to cause a little pop-up to appear when you
> dragged it over an area in a dialog box no longer exists.
> This information now appears in a single help topic that
> makes use of hotspots. You can test this in Word by going to,
> for example, Tools > Options. In Word 2003, the question mark
> has disappeared from the dialog box. When you click help, you
> will see a hotspot for each section of the dialog box; each
> one expands to display the former pop-up help in a list
> format. Whether this is more usable for the user is
> debatable, but it does make the help system easier to
> maintain. It is my belief that the changes that Microsoft has
> made to their help systems have been motivated almost
> entirely by the need to reduce the number of help topics that
> need to be maintained.
Shane McRoberts of Microsoft addressed this at my session during the
WritersUA Conference. He said that their usability studies had shown that
most users don't know what to do with the question mark. Even if they click
it and see that the cursor has changed, they don't know to click inside a
field. He didn't mention anything about the reducing the number of topics.
> Other trends:
>
> * Dock the help to the right of the app or embed help in
> the app or do both.
Docking the window to the right is becoming a standard and will be
instituted in Windows "Longhorn" Help. However, the windows are "dockable"
and can be positioned anywhere (including a separate monitor, if a
dual-monitor system is being used).
> * Include a "Was this information helpful" section in
> each help file.
This provides feedback to the company that provided the Help file. While
Microsoft has instituted this for many Help files (such as those included
with Office), it is not yet an overall trend. (For example, it is not
included in many of the Windows application Help files, like those for the
Calculator or Paint.)
> * Include basic help with the app; send the user to the
> company web site for more detailed info and latest info.
Make sure users have connectivity, because they tend to get irritated if
they can't get to the Help. (Another option is to provide both local and
Web-based versions, but this can lead to out-of-synch Help files.)
> * In embedded help, use a smallish type size (see
>http://www.poynterextra.org/eyetrack2004/fontsize.htm:
> users read more carefully when the type size is small; they tend
> to scan when the type size is large).
> * Reduce the number of help topics (e.g., Word 2000 has
> 33 topics in the Contents pane; Word 2003 has 16).
The TOC doesn't necessarily indicate how many topics are in the Help file.
In fact, the TOC should never include references to all topics. In this
case, the Help authors have reduced the number of arbitrary sections in the
Help file, but there's no way to tell how many topics are actually included.
> * Get rid of pop-up help.
"Longhorn" Help includes a popup behavior, along with expandable/collapsible
content.
> * Reduce the amount of real-estate used by the help
> (e.g., the Word 2000 help window is 20 cm in width; Word 2003 is 7.5 cm).
However, the amount of scrolling may increase with a narrow window, but this
depends on how the topics are constructed. "Longhorn" Help will use a
"skinny" pane that expands when necessary for topics requiring a wider
window (for example, for topics that include graphics).
Char James-Tanny ~ JTF Associates, Inc. ~ http://www.helpstuff.com
2005 Microsoft Help MVP ~ MSHelpWiki http://www.mshelpwiki.com
AuthorIT Certified Consultant ~ AuthorIT Development and Training
RoboGURU: RoboHelp Consulting, Development, and Training
Moderator, HATT and MSHelp2
Web site Hosting and Design ~ http://www.jtfhosting.com
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