Seven Ideas for Sprucing Up Help

by Carrie Spira, Quill Contributor

I attended my first STC WebEx Seminar, which was held at CheckFree i-Solutions in Waterloo. I’d like to take a moment to properly thank Peter Szabo and his colleagues at CheckFree for their hospitality. The seminar room was roomy and comfortable, and I appreciated the large display screen at the front of the room. Thank you all for holding a great event!

Dissatisfaction with Help

Our speaker, Saul Carliner, began by discussing common complaints about help. Help is unattractive to look at, easy to get lost in, boring to develop, and poorly addresses the needs of multiple kinds of readers, who have varying needs and tolerances.

A common thread of online help dissatisfaction stems from a help system’s inability to help a user. Online Help originated in the 1980’s and is associated with just-in-time knowledge delivery. Help authors find it challenging to provide just-in-time assistance while simultaneously knowing exactly what kind of reader to address.

For example, context-sensitive or field-level assistance details the function of fields in a software application. Context-sensitive help can’t provide context and workflow information at that level. An application’s fields and function are a means to an end, whereas task-based details offer the end result.

Make Help Task-based

Successful help systems support user performance and tasks instead of simply describing features and functions. Help authors want to tell people things and get people to do things. Help systems tell many different people how to do things. How we detail the task and choose the information we expose must vary by user experience.

Saul Carliner introduced three audience levels for software applications that include Newbies, Arrogant, and Humble.

Audience	Characteristics
Newbies	Little or no experience with the product or a specific task. Prefer to know one way to complete a task.
Arrogant	Intermediate users who want to improve efficiency and effectiveness. Prefer shortcuts and multiple ways to complete a task.
Humble	Advanced users who want to try to tackle undocumented, uncharted paths through a product. Prefer access to troubleshooting details, reference material, and other expert users.

Mass-Customize Information

When you design help systems, address multiple audiences by layering the information by level of experience. The resulting documentation appears as though it’s tailored to specific readers because each type of reader looks in specific places for details and uses specific tools in the help system.

To design a help system for Newbies, Arrogant, and Humble, layer and target the details to address each audience type. For example:

Newbies see what they need at the surface of the help system–one direct, simple way to perform the 5-10 most common tasks–using the Table of Contents.

Arrogant users drill down a layer or two in the Table of Contents or using Find options, where the shortcuts, options, alternative operations, and the next 20-30 most common tasks exist.

Humble users prefer queries and search options to help find instances of particular words, phrases, or concepts, as well as access to suggestions and direction on where to go next to find more details, such as user groups and communities of experts.

Seven Ideas for Help

Saul offered us seven ideas for sprucing up any help system, including:

Use Wizards (also known as online agents) to users from performing intimidating or rarely performed tasks. For example, software installation wizards install applications, offer the flexibility of customization, and prompt for user input when necessary.
Use Cue Cards (also known as ShowMe help) to instruct Newbies one step at a time and provide explanatory details. ShowMe help used to be tedious and time-intensive to produce. Great scripting tools are now available including RoboDemo, Camtasia Studio, and X Help.
Coach Users to provide step-by-step instructions, track a Newbie learner’s progress, and provide immediate feedback. Coaching mechanisms can be expensive to develop and maintain, and are often implemented in Customer Service industries.
Use Guided Tours to whet a Newbie’s appetite about a task, function, or feature. Windows XP provides users with guided tours on topics of interest like working with images and pictures. Guided tours provide details on what instead of how
Use Tips and Reminders to provide brief, just-in-time reference details that provide just enough detail to entice Arrogant and Humble audiences to find out more. Link references to a product or company website to encourage readers to revisit websites more frequently.
Publish a Webzine for Arrogant and Humble audiences that includes tips and tricks, application examples or field-level application, or case studies of product implementation. Webzines can also transfer legacy information online for customers.
Give a Help System a Makeover by changing system colours, typefaces, or by providing new links to additional sources of content.

The standard white background and black text paradigm was designed by one company years ago and is only one way to display content on a computer screen.
Experiment with colour to find a unique look that draws readers back into the help for a look.

Arial font is a "safe" font; however, fonts like Verdana, Trebuchet, and Helvetica are widely used today in help.

Use more illustrations and clickable images in online help to reduce word count and more accurately convey concepts and ideas.

About Carrie Spira

Carrie has a BA in Rhetoric and Professional Writing from the University of Waterloo. She lives in Kitchener with her family and works as a Technical Writer in Waterloo. Carrie enjoys puttering in her gardens, experimenting with digital photography, and makes time for cardio and weight training activities at the YMCA most days after work.

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