Chapter 13

User Manuals, Online Help, and Tutorials

Outline

I. Paper versus online manuals

• Advantages of online manuals: Navigation, Interactive features and economic.

• Negative side effects: less information, display not readable, confusing, not enough display space.

II. Reading from paper versus from displays

• Potential Disadvantages in Reading from Displays:

– Poor fonts, especially on low resolution displays

– Low contrast between characters and the background

– Fuzzy character boundaries

– Emitted light from displays may be more difficult to read by than reflected light from paper

– Glare may be greater on displays

– Screen flicker can be a problem

– Curved display surface may be problem

– Small displays require more frequent page turning

– Reading distance can be greater than for paper

– Displays are fixed in place

– Display placement may be too high for comfortable reading

– Layout and formatting problems

– Reduced hand and body motions with displays as compared to paper may be fatiguing

– Rigid posture for displays may also be fatiguing

– Unfamiliarity of displays and the anxiety that the image may disappear can increase stress

III. Shaping the content of manuals

• Traditionally, manuals were often poorly written and not suited to the background of the users

• The benefits of well-designed manuals include shorter learning times, better user performance, increased user satisfaction, and few calls for support

• Carroll's guided exploration

– choose an action-oriented approach

– anchor the tool in the task domain

– support error recognition and recovery

– support reading to do, study, and locate

IV. Use of the OAI model to design manuals

• Introductory tutorial

– task training first

– learn the hierarchy of objects, from high level down to the atomic

– recognize the range of high-level intentions down to specific action steps

– learn about the interface representations

• Conversion manual

• Quick reference

• Sample sessions extremely helpful in giving portrait of system features and interaction styles

• Flow diagrams provide visual overviews that orients users to transitions from one activity to another

V. Organization and writing style

• Precise statement of educational objectives

• Present concepts in a logical sequence with increasing order of difficulty

• Ensure that each concept is used in subsequent sections

• Avoid forward references

• Construct sections with approximately equal amounts of new material

• Need sufficient examples and complete sample sessions

• Choice of words and phrases important

• Style guides for organizations attempt to ensure consistency and high quality

• Writing style should match users' reading ability

VI. Online manuals and help

• Kearsley's guidelines for online help systems:

– Make the help system easy to access and easy to exit.

– Make help as specific as possible.

– Collect data to determine what help is needed.

– Give users as much control as possible over the help system.

– Make help messages accurate and complete.

– Do not use help to compensate for poor interface design.

• Online Manuals

– Reproduction of printed manuals online

– Enhanced by special online features

• Most effective if manuals redesigned to fit electronic medium

• Online Help

– Users expect to be able to search the full text of online documents

– Expanding and contracting table of contents can be combined with search

• Context-sensitive help

– User-controlled, interactive object help

– Intelligent help: users interaction history, a model of user population, and a representation of their tasks to make assumptions about what users want

– Hybrid approaches

VII. Online tutorials, demonstrations, and animations

• Online tutorials

• Demonstration systems

– Distributed on disk, CD-ROM, or over Internet

• Guides

– Audio and video recording of human guides or cartoon figures to lead users through information

VIII. Online communities for user assistance

• Help networks using email

• Communal approach means low cost for software maintenance

• Frequently asked questions (FAQ) lists for newcomers

IX. Development process

• Allows adequate time for review, testing, and refinement

• Manual can act as a more complete and comprehensible alternative to formal specifications

• Manual writer becomes effective critic, reviewer, or question asker

• Enables pilot testing of software's learnability

• Allows for reviews and suggestions by designers, etc.

• Informal walkthroughs with users possible

• Field trials with moderate numbers of users facilitated