Every topic is page one
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Every online help topic is Page One. Also see the handout at http://www.slideshare.net/viqui_dill/every-topic-is-page-onehandout Make every topic count in your online help system. Every topic in your online help system could be page one. No matter what kind of topic you create (window, task, button, or field definition), help users find quick answers to common questions. http://lanyrd.com/scfpkq
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Every topic is page one
- 1. Make every topic count in your online help system
- 2. What kind of program is this? • Kitchen cabinet quoting software • Used by kitchen designers
- 3. Who is the audience? • New • Alone • Bothered • Busy
- 4. Pushing the help button Using the search feature From a URL in an email From another page in the help system
- 5. Pushing the help button Using the search feature From a URL in an email From another page in the help system
- 6. Pushing the help button Using the search feature From a URL in an email From another page in the help system
- 7. Quick Start Windows Buttons Fields
- 8. Context sensitive Window topic • Often the entry point into online help Anticipate the question(s) being asked • What can I do here? Tasks: step by step with pictures Training tutorials: screens and audio • What does this thing do? What does this thing mean? Buttons and fields and screen areas
- 9. This is an example of our old style online help. • Task instruction buried in a wall of text. • Functional notes given up front. • Window graphic clicks generate popup interaction. Task instruction buried in a wall of text. Functional notes given up front. Window graphic clicks generate popup interaction.
- 10. New style online help. • What can I do? Links above page fold. • Tasks, video, FAQ right up front. • Expanding text replaces paragraphs of explanation. • Window graphic changed to Flash for hoverable interaction. What can I do? Links above page fold. Tasks, video, FAQ right up front.
- 11. New style online help. • What can I do? Links above page fold. • Tasks, video, FAQ right up front. • Expanding text replaces paragraphs of explanation. • Window graphic changed to Flash for hoverable interaction. Window graphic changed to Flash for hoverable interaction.
- 12. New style online help. • What can I do? Links above page fold. • Tasks, video, FAQ right up front. • Expanding text replaces paragraphs of explanation. • Window graphic changed to Flash for hoverable interaction. Expanding text replaces paragraphs of explanation.
- 13. Buttons: • What does it do? • What are the results? • Where is it found?
- 14. Fields • What is this field? • How do I use it? Where is it updated? Where is it read- only? • What are some examples? • How does it relate to other fields?
- 15. What’s next? • How do I know if I’ve finished what I came here to accomplish? • How do I fix any mistakes? • Where do I go next?
- 16. Software Help button Window topic Task topic or Tutorial
- 17. Window topic • Tutorial Search • Field definition • Tutorial
- 18. Busy, bothered users are needy Answer the burning question • within a few clicks • above the page fold • searchably What about your experience… • As a writer? • As a user? Do you have any questions?
- 19. Read the bio http://www.stcwdc.org/bios/dill_bio.shtml Email social_media@stcwdc.org @viqui_dill https://twitter.com/viqui_dill Linked In http://www.linkedin.com/pub/viqui-dill/15/79/7a5 Facebook https://www.facebook.com/viqui.dill
Notas del editor
- Every online help topic is Page One. Make every topic count in your online help system. Every topic in your online help system could be page one. No matter what kind of topic you create (window, task, button, or field definition), help users find quick answers to common questions. http://lanyrd.com/scfpkq http://www.slideshare.net/viqui_dill/every-topic-is-page-one
- So you’re about to make new online help for an audience of folks who want to learn how to use a brand new system. If you’re like me, you may never get to meet the actual users. My company makes kitchen cabinets, which you can buy online. It’s really hard to buy a whole kitchen worth of cabinets and if you make a mistake, it’s usually a very costly and sometimes embarrassing mistake. My users are kitchen designers who take the home owner’s input and measurements and turn the home owner’s dream into a design and a list of parts to order for the kitchen. They will need to order everything from the cabinets themselves on down to the decorative handles and functional accessories like the wine rack and slide out trash bin.
- I always assume that any user who is desperate enough to go to the online help is 3 things:New – they are new at the system and they want reassurance that it will be worth their time to use it. Alone – they are working alone at the moment, otherwise they would have just asked a coworker the question. Bothered – they are either angry, or scared, or both. Busy — this goes without saying. Users are trying to get the job done, buying cabinets – not surfing around looking for the right button. Whatever I offer them in my tutorials and online help, I have to be complete and accurate. I have to gain the trust of my audience and reassure them that no matter what the task is, they can do it if they just hang in with me and follow my instructions. OK, so that’s who will do the reading and searching and learning. Since these folks don’t work for my company, I have no prayer of ever meeting them. Who will I be working with while I’m creating the help? Who will tell me what’s involved in each process? Who will give the final approval when I’m done? I will be working with the IT folks who have designed the system for the designers to use. These guys and gals already know how to use the system. They will already know how to do each task. They will already know the answer to every question. They will be more concerned with accuracy and completeness of the content than with the effectiveness of the delivery. They will have very little patience for material that tries to teach them what they already know. So I have to be able to build a bridge from what the SMEs, Developers, and maybe even the Marketing folks tell me to the actual needs of the actual users of the system.
- This is the main screen for Quest III, our quoting and estimating software. Doesn’t look much like a kitchen, does it? But it’s really a kitchen and a bathroom.
- This is the Quick Start page for the Quest III online help system. If you click the help button on the main screen, this is what you see.
- For any type of topic, consider how the viewer go there. Did they push the help button? They are at the context sensitive window topic. Did they use the search feature in the help system? They are at the field or button topic. Did someone send them the URL as an email? They may be at the task topic or What’s New topic. Did another help topic direct them there? They may be at a task or tutorial topic. What is the question in their mind? Try to answer the question as quickly as possible.
- Window topic is usually page 1, opened when they click the help button on a specific window. Quick Start topic could be page 1, opened when they click the help button on the main MDI. Button and field topics are often what they really want to see, but are buried inside the help system. Video or Task topic is usually page 2, sent from a window topic or from a link in an email from a human being.
- This is an example of our old style online help. Task instruction buried in a wall of text. Functional notes given up front. Window graphic clicks generate popup interaction.
- This is an example of our new style online help. This is the topic that goes with the screen for picking out door styles. What can I do? Links above page fold. Tasks, video, FAQ right up front. Expanding text replaces paragraphs of explanation. Window graphic changed to Flash for hoverable interaction.
- This is the topic that goes with the screen for picking out door styles. What can I do? Links above page fold. Tasks, video, FAQ right up front. Expanding text replaces paragraphs of explanation. Window graphic changed to Flash for hoverable interaction.
- This is the topic that goes with the screen for picking out door styles. What can I do? Links above page fold. Tasks, video, FAQ right up front. Expanding text replaces paragraphs of explanation. Window graphic changed to Flash for hoverable interaction.
- Page one leads to the answer. If you start at the window, by clicking the help button in the program itself, you will find the tutorial right away. If you start someplace else and do a search, you will find the field definition, which will lead you to the tutorial right away.
- Page one leads to the answer. If you start at the window, by clicking the help button in the program itself, you will find the tutorial right away. If you start someplace else and do a search, you will find the field definition, which will lead you to the tutorial right away.
- Viqui would love to connect with you. Email her at social_media@stcwdc.org, follow her on twitter @viqui_dillhttps://twitter.com/viqui_dill, connect with her on Linked In http://www.linkedin.com/pub/viqui-dill/15/79/7a5, or make her your friend on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/viqui.dill.