Effective User Assistance Design: Ten Best Practices

In a utopian world, a product would be so perfect it would not need any user assistance at all. But in reality, products aren't perfect, and users need assistance through different stages of their use. User assistance (UA)--in the form of manuals or online Help--guides users in their tasks, suggests better ways of getting their work done, and provides directions for troubleshooting their problems.

Dalvi, Meghashri. UXmatters (2007). Articles>User Interface>Help>Online

Evaluating Online Help

Online help excels in providing quick access to concise information - but only when the users choose to access it. Delivering high-quality online help that satisfies all users is a hard task. Several good help authoring tools make help generation and maintenance easier, but to create good content that is highly effective is still a huge challenge. Experience shows that even after following quality guidelines or best practices, the final output may still not be good enough to satisfy the needs of your users. Heuristic evaluation of an online help system provides an initial assessment of both quality and usability. This article presents a summary of key points for evaluating online help, though you will likely want to expand the heuristics with company or product-centric metrics suitable to your application.

Dalvi, Meghashri. Usability Interface (2008). Articles>Documentation>Help>Assessment

Retronyms: Looking Back on Progress

Technology changes the way we live. It also affects the way we speak. As the gadgets we make and use grow more complex, we’re sneaking in complexities into the words we use too. Like ‘printed book’. What was always called just a ‘book’ (hard cover or paperback) is now called a printed book, simply because now we have e-books. What was once simply a guitar is now an acoustic guitar, because of the growing popularity of electric guitars.

Dalvi, Meghashri. Indus (2003). Articles>Language>Technology

Sensitivity in Writing

The biggest impact of globalization is our vast exposure to diversity. Compared to earlier generations, we regularly come across a variety of different people. As professional communicators, it is extremely important for us to recognize this diversity and represent it sensitively in content that we develop.

Dalvi, Meghashri. Indus (2007). Articles>Writing>Rhetoric

Review: Spying for Words

Want to know more abou words? Or want some more brilliant snippets? Log on to The Word Spy. It is a site maintained by Paul McFedries, the well-known author and word-follower.

Dalvi, Meghashri. Indus (2005). Articles>Reviews>Web Design