User Documentation and Online
Help
CS4HC3 / SE4HC3/ SE6DO3
Fall 2011
Instructor: Kevin Browne
Slide content is based heavily on Chapter 12 of the textbook:
Designing the User Interface: Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction / 5th edition, by Ben Schneiderman & Catherine Plaisant
User Documentation and Online
Help
●
Online help, manuals, documentation, quick
start guides are often expected
●
Ubiquitous displays (smartphones, etc.) leads
us to ubiquitous online help?
●
User communities with “grassroots” support
●
Other forms of instruction: classroom (possibly
online), personal training and assistance,
telephone consultation, etc.
Online Versus Paper Documentation
●
Why online documentation?
● Physical advantages
– Info is always available when a computer is available – Less physical space is required
– Info can be updated quickly, at low cost
● Navigation features
– Interface can allow users to quickly find info (table of contents, et.)
– Search is far improved than paper – Hyperlinks to to link topics
Online Versus Paper Documentation
●
Why online documentation?
● Interactive services
– Documentation can be bookmarked – Animations, graphics to explain things
– Online communities can be enabled (e.g. Wiki)
– Universal accessibility through screen readers, etc.
● Economic advantages
Online Versus Paper Documentation
●
Disadvantages of online help?
● Paper may be more readable
● Paper may be able to display more information ● Paper has a “UI” that most people understand ● Paper may not take away mental resources to
navigate an interface to find help
● Online help may force user to split display space
between online help and their work
● Devices with small screens (e.g. Smartphones) may
Reading from Paper Versus from
Displays
●
Paper has been around for hundreds of years
● Evolved, designed to be as readable as possible
●
Disadvantages of reading from a display?
● Poor fonts
● Low contrast between characters\background ● Glare, flicker, curved display surface
● Small displays (too much page turning) ● Reading distance
Reading from Paper Versus from
Displays
●
Disadvantages of reading from a display? (cont)
● Layout and formatting issues
● Reduced hand and body motion
– Especially if display is fixed
● Anxiety of navigating a display
●
Interest in reading from displays has only
increased
● Online libraries, newspapers, journals ● Studies being done to improve displays
Shaping the Content of the
Documentation
●
In the past, what was typical...
● Documentation was done by low-level team
member, an after thought
● Manuals would be thorough, technical, descriptive ● Manuals wouldn't be tested, revised before
●
Now more likely...
● Manuals focused on task-completion, info-gathering ● Manuals that have been tested, revised
Shaping the Content of the
Documentation
●
Reality:
● New users typically don't read manual sequentially
from cover to cover
● They are more likely to “just try to make it work”,
based on:
– Experience with previous interfaces – Real-world experience
– Guesswork
●
Result:
minimal manuals
● Encourage active involvement with software soon in
the process, guided exploration of tool, support error recognition\recovery
Shaping the Content of the
Documentation
●
User manual guidelines (Carroll, 1998)
● Choose an action-oriented approach
– Have users act early, support exploration, show examples
● Let user's tasks guide organization
– Instructional activities should e based off of real tasks, present task concepts before interface
● Support error recognition and recovery
– Prevent mistakes, provide error information to diagnose and correct
● Support reading to do, study and locate
Shaping the Content of the
Documentation
●
User-desired qualities of documentation:
● Appropriate level of technical detail ● Many examples
● Accuracy
● Well-organized ● Easy-to-navigate
Shaping the Content of the
Documentation
●
Documentation designer concerns
● Give credit to documentation authors? ● Target audience?
● Resources to complete task?
● Documentation used once, or many times? ● Abilities of the users? (technical, reading)
Shaping the Content of the
Documentation
●
Some good documentation practices:
● Include precise statements of instructional
objectives (Mager, 1997)
– “collection of words and/or pictures and diagrams to let others know what you intend your students to achieve”
● Proper sequence of content (concepts may build
upon one another)
Accessing the Documentation
●
Online documentation
● Before: CD-ROMs containing copy of paper
documentation
● Now: Referred to software maker's website ● Can take advantage of online features:
– Text highlighting – Search
– Sound, animation – Bookmarking
Accessing the Documentation
●
Online help
● Beginners: tutorials, intermittent knowledgeable
users: online help, experts: online documentation
● Rather than searching through entire online
documentation, provide help more directly tied to solutions to user problems
Accessing the Documentation
●
Online help
● User complaints about online help (Smart et al.,
2001)
– Trouble navigating the help menu
– Finding the terminology too technical – Difficulty with search strategies
– Incomplete info provided – Too many choices or paths
– Difficulty with having multiple windows open – Too much information
Accessing the Documentation
●
Context-sensitive help
● User-controlled, interactive object help
– Monitor user cursor
● Provide help based on cursor location
– Provide a help key or button for interface objects – Pop-up box can provide help info
– Section of screen can be committed to displaying help info
● System-initiated help
– Keep track of user interactions, data about the users, use data to suggest help
Accessing the Documentation
●
Context-sensitive help
● System-initiated help
– Problem: users may create errors or have
misconceptions that you haven't programatically accounted for
– Intelligent help systems have in general failed
● e.g. Microsoft Office Assistant “Clippit”
● Hybrid approaches
– Blend of user initiated and intelligent help – e.g. Browsing suggestions
Accessing the Documentation
●
Special populations
● International and cross-cultural issues
– More than language translation: cultural differences
● Older adult users
– May have to develop separate page for seniors
● e.g. National Institute of Health
● Users with disabilities
Online Tutorials and Animated
Demonstrations
●
Computer training modules, animated
demonstration, video training, etc.
●
Online tutorials
● Strength: Users may carry out practice tasks
– Practice tasks followed by free exploration resulted in significant performance improvements with
high-experience subjects (Wiedenbeck and Zila, 1997)
● Start-up tips
– Every time a new feature is shown, display help\tutorial options
Online Tutorials and Animated
Demonstrations
●
Animated demonstrations and multimedia
● Explain system features via animations
● Allow users access to standard playback features ● Users seem to prefer recorded voice explanations ● Animated demos more effective at explaining tool
use then static explanations (Baecker et al., 1991)
● A week after viewing animations, positive effects
were reversed (Palmiter and Elkerton, 1991)
● Subjective satisfaction with animated demos is high
Online Communities for User
Assistance
●
E-mail, chat, instant messaging, wiki,
discussion groups, forums, newsletters for Q&A
● e.g. Google Groups● Communal broadcast of help = low cost ● Users help other users
– Satisfaction from helping others
– Demonstrate what they are capable of doing themselves – e.g. Microsoft MVP
● Common questions can be put into FAQ ● Social aspect, human interaction key
The Development Process
●
Development process guidelines:
● Seek professional writers and copywriters ● Prepare user documentation early (before
implementation)
● Set up guidelines documents and coordinate and
integrate across all involved departments
● Review drafts thoroughly ● Field-test early editions
● Provide a feedback mechanism for readers ● Revise to reflect changes regularly
References
Designing the User Interface: Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction / 5th edition, by Ben Schneiderman & Catherine
Plaisant (2010)
Baecker, Ronald, Small, Ian, and Mander, Richard. Brining icons to life, Proc. CHI'91 Conference: Human Factors in Computing Systems, ACM Press, New York (1991), 1-6.
Caroll, J.M., Minimalism Beyond the Nurnberg Funnel, MIT Press, Cambridge MA (1998).
Mager, Robert F., Preparing Instructional Objectives: A Critical Tool in the Development of Effective Instruction, C enter for Effective Performance, Atlanta, GA, (1997)
Palmiter, Susan and Elkerton, Jay, An evaluation of animated demonstrations for learning computer-based tasks, Proc. CHI'91 Conference: Human Factors in Computing Systems, ACM Press, New York (1991), 257-263.
Payne, S.J., Chesworth, K., and Hill, E., Animated demonstrations for exploratory learning, Interacting with Computers 4 (1992), 3-22.
References
Smart, Karl L., Whiting, Matthew, and DeTienne, Kristen Bell, Assessing the need for printed and online documentation: A study of customer preference and use, Journal of Business Communication 38, 3, (2001), 285-314..
Wiedenbeck, S. And Zila, P.L., Hands-on practice in learning to use software: A comparison of exercise, exploration, and combined formats, ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction 4, 2 (June 1997), 169-196.
