32 Online information Seven golden rules of online Help design Leaving the tools to one side, Matthew Ellison proposes seven guiding principles on which to base a better Help system. Back in 1995, the brief for designers Rule 1: Don’t force users to you can use to reduce the need to of online Help was quite clear-cut. move between topics to solve navigate between topics. These include Windows was the overwhelmingly a problem pop-ups, expanding glossary definitions predominant computing platform One of the most common mistakes (which can be stored in a single file) and for business and home applications, in online Help design is to structure Dynamic HTML drop-downs (as shown and there was a single standard Help the information in the same way as in Figure 1). format: WinHelp 4. Microsoft published you would for sequential reading. design guidelines for creating WinHelp With the trend towards generating Rule 2: Only index the main systems, and most organisations chose online user assistance from the same theme of each Help topic to follow them. As a trainer in online source as printed documentation, this In my view, until natural language Help techniques, the most common is becoming an even more significant search really comes of age, the index question I received from students issue. The fact is that, unless users are is the most useful device for accessing around that time was ‘How can I make feeling at an extremely loose end, they specific information within an extended my own Help look exactly like the Help don’t read Help systems from start to Help system. I have heard Shane for Microsoft Word?’. finish: they dip in, selecting individual MacRoberts, Help Program Manager Almost ten years later, the situation topics as and when they need them. at Microsoft, quote the fact that full- is not nearly so cut-and-dried. The web This means that, as you write any given text search is more frequently used; is rapidly becoming an established Help topic, you need to guard against however, I think this is probably due platform for delivering server-based taking prior knowledge for granted. in part to the poor quality of many of applications, and other operating I think that users are best served by today’s indexes. (Have you noticed that systems such as Linux are on the rise. including within a single topic all the the Help for Microsoft Office has not The current Microsoft Help format information they need to answer their had a true index since version 2000?) (HTML Help 1.4) does not provide a question or solve their problem, even Although it is a good idea to include solution for this new generation of web- if that means duplicating information as many useful entries as you can in based and cross-platform applications, that appears in other topics. This saves an index, it is still possible to ‘over- and so organisations have turned instead users the time and trouble of navigating index’. The most common mistake is to a wide range of other formats for user between topics to piece together the full to index terms within a topic without assistance. These formats include: solution, and enables them to return actually considering whether the topic Turnkey browser-based systems back to productive work more quickly. provides useful further information (such as WebHelp and WebWorks I realise that this strategy sometimes about that term. This can result in Help) needs to be tempered by practical users being frustrated by following Sun’s JavaHelp considerations such as maintenance and false leads. Remember that one of Customised embedded user translation costs. However, with today’s the key goals of online Help is to assistance, where the Help forms increasingly sophisticated content answer users’ questions. As you index part of the user interface itself. management systems, it is becoming each topic, it is a good idea to think Since each of these Help formats possible to write small chunks of of all the questions for which the has its own particular layout and content once and have them show up as topics provides the answer and to use presentation style, it would seem on normal text within multiple Help topics. the words and phrases from those the face of it that a set of global design Even if you haven’t adopted content questions. guidelines is no longer appropriate or management, there are a number of You might even consider basing your workable. However, if you cut through information-layering techniques that index keywords on only the title of the the technological jargon and hype, the overall objectives of online Help are the same as they ever were: to answer users’ questions and to support the completion of users’ tasks. Coupled with these unchanging goals are certain fundamental design principles, or ‘golden rules’, that can be applied whatever format of Help you are creating. The following sections summarise briefly the top seven design rules that guide me in my own online Help Figure 1. Topic containing links to expanding glossary definitions and development. DHTML drop-downs 33 topic, since that provides a sharper focus. However, don’t misinterpret this as a licence to use only the wording of the titles themselves as index entries; my own usability tests have shown this to be worse than having no index at all. It is, therefore, essential to consider synonyms, phrase inversions, and other terms associated with the topic titles. Figure 2. Intuitive and descriptive link to online Help Rule 3: Don’t require users to make a conscious decision to You can potentially use this technique The topic in Figure 3 shows the access Help for displaying any Help format, effective use of two small images that As authors of user assistance, it is including a traditional HTML Help enable users to compare side-by-side sometimes easy to fall into the trap window. the two contrasting ways of displaying a of assuming that our users are far set of options. more interested in the Help that we Rule 4: Only include images provide than is actually the case. We when they add value Rule 5: Write topics that fondly imagine them seeking out the It is possible to overdo the use of answer users’ questions Help option and patiently browsing graphics (especially screenshots) within This sounds obvious. However, it through our carefully crafted topics in online Help. I sometimes hear their is common mistake for developers their quest for knowledge. However, inclusion justified by the fact that ‘users to write Help that is based on their the hard reality is that many users like pictures’ or ‘graphics make the Help own knowledge and understanding have low expectations of Help and will look more friendly’. Including images of an application, rather than on the do all they can to avoid using it. For for no other reasons than these can lead questions and problems that users are that reason, they are unlikely to be to unnecessary additional maintenance likely to have. tempted by a ‘question mark’ icon or costs, and can sometimes even be I recommend writing a separate a button labelled ‘Help’ since neither counter-productive. The fact is that topic that addresses each potential of these provides any direct evidence users like pictures only when they are question, and organising the Help table of the relevance or usefulness of the conveying useful information. of contents by question types (such as assistance that is available. In general, online Help should contain ‘how do I complete a task?’, or ‘what is I prefer that links to online Help from far fewer screenshots than does paper- this dialog box for?’) rather than by the the application user interface should be: based documentation, if only because the structure of the application. Appealing user can often see the real screen side- Clear in terms of the information by-side with the Help window — it makes Rule 6: Don’t be a slave to afforded sense for the Help to complement the consistency In tune with the needs of users. application user interface, not duplicate As writers and editors, we sometimes The link to user assistance shown in it. allow ourselves to be inappropriately Figure 2 (and highlighted by me with A problem with large images is that, pre-occupied with consistency. How an ellipse) is highly intuitive and, due to the relatively small size of most many times have you found yourself because it echoes the question that Help windows, scrolling is required to documenting a totally self-explanatory users are likely to have in their minds, view the images in their entirety. This procedure (such as filling in a name it provides a compelling incentive for means that, when the topic is first and address) just for the sake of selecting it. What is at issue here is displayed, important information can completeness? The important thing not the design of the Help itself, but sometimes be hidden out of view below is to be guided only by the needs of the design of the link into the Help. the image. the user as you decide which Help Figure 3. Example of small images that add value 34 Online information Figure 4. Example of user assistance provided only where required information to include and how to present it. The web-based application Useful resources shown in Figure 4 provides a good Books example of this approach — all the Designing and Writing Online column headings in this screen have Documentation links to context-sensitive Help except by William Horton the Amount column, which is self- ISBN 0-471-30635-5 explanatory and does not require Help.