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Subject:Re: paper vs online From:Lynn Ward <ward -at- UX1 -dot- CSO -dot- UIUC -dot- EDU> Date:Sun, 14 Mar 1993 20:19:44 -0600
> One thing I've not seen addressed in discussions about online documentation
> is that when the help window is open, a user cannot actually step through
> the documentation. Instead, a user must close the window and hope that
> he or she can remember the instructions. The only other alternatives
> are to PRINT the online help onto a hard copy, or to WRITE the
> instructions down somewhere. Both of those alternatives seem silly in
> light of the whole concept of online documentation. Apparently, some
> online instruction has an interactive mini-tutorial, but I haven't
> seen it in any of the major software packages I've used.
> Is this a programming problem? Or is it a problem simply because
> no one else sees it as a problem?
> Janie Bergen at the University of North Texas
I think this is right at the heart of the problem with on-line docs. I usually
find myelf printing out a man page if I am really going to make use of it.
Wouldn't it be nice if we all had 21" monitors running X Windows. Anyway, I'd
like to relay a little anecdote about online docs. Recently, the secretary
in our office was asking one of our Mac/Networking gurus about the significance
of a particular button on the button bar in MS Excel. Mac Guru gave up. I
don't know Excel, but I have answered many questions for this woman by using
online and balloon help. In this case, I simply turned balloon help on, and
voila, the mystery was solved. But the point is, many people, especially
novices do not think about using online documentation. For them, it's as
unnatural and intimidating as the application they are trying to learn. Paper
is familiar and people want to turn to something safe and familiar when they
are on foreign turf. But as you can see from my little story, even the Mac guru
, who shall remain nameless, completely forgot about online help.
I think the bottom line is that different types of people respond differently
to different types of documentation.For a programmer, an online Unix man page is
more than sufficient, but I do not write documentation for programmers...I
write for students, faculty, clerical staff, etc., and I generally start
from the premise (or allow for the fact) that they have a minimal technical
background.
--
Lynn Ward
Network Design Office/Computing and Communications Services Office
1304 W. Springfield Ave., Urbana, IL 61801
e-mail: L-ward1 -at- uiuc -dot- edu
