Re: Evaluating help files

[John Garison <john -at- garisons -dot- com>]

Hi Carrie,

My initial response to the questions you posed are that they should be 
more open-ended, though this does pose a problem for quantifying the 
responses

Carrie Baker wrote:
> Questions I thought of are
>
> When you access the documentation using the application do you open
> the PDF file or the help file?
>   
Consider "How do you access the documentation directly from the 
application?"


> Do the correct topics appear when you click F1?
> Does the help provided solve the problem?
>   
Consider: Do you use the F1 function to display help for the current 
application page? If so, is it useful?"
(If they don't use it or aren't aware of it, use this as an opportunity 
to educate them.)

> Do the instructions provided help you perform the task you were interested in?
>   
Consider asking the corollary: " How could the help be more useful?"

> How do you generally access items in the help:
> Use F1
> Use the contents tab
> Use the index tab
> Use the search function?
>   
Consider: "What percentage of the time do you use these functions in the 
help?" This might make the responses more quantifiable.


My 2¢,

John Garison

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