Online documentation

[Peggy Thompson <THOMPSONP -at- A1 -dot- OSTI -dot- GOV>]

Eric said--and I paraphrase--"How do we structure online
information in such a way that it will stay in memory long enough
for users to recall it when they return to their applications?"

Two thoughts on this:

One, prompted by an article in the recent STC journal, is that a
system should be simple and intutive enough that a minimum of
documentation is required in the first place. Said this article,
** If a good writer cannot document a system clearly and simply,
the system is poorly designed. ** (Think about THAT one next time
you question the worth of your work or think that something must
be wrong with you when you get helplessly mired while writing!)

Second, some good literature exists (and I don't have citations
to all of it) on screen design and online help design, including
use of "white" (screen) space, conciseness of writing, use of
lists rather than gobs of text, etc. Well designed online help
has a better chance of "sticking" in the user's head.

But really, I think the only way online documentation can really
be useful is if it stays on screen (in a window or balloon or
what have you) while you continue to work in your application.
But this functionality probably belongs to the realm of very
high-level software, which my facility--and perhaps a lot of
places--won't see for a long, long time (if ever).

We are having some success here with simple menu-driven
interfaces for our once command-line-driven text retrieval
systems, supported by limited online help files and folding
quick-reference cards. In fact, I haven't written a fat user
manual in more than a year and a half and doubt (in this
position, at least) I ever will again.

What kinds of alternate paper documentation have you all tried or
had success with?

Peggy Thompson
SAIC - Oak Ridge, TN
thompsonp -at- a1 -dot- osti -dot- gov