Applying Minimalist Principles, Strategies, and Techniques  

People use documentation differently from what we might expect. They don’t like to read; instead they jump to a task with prior knowledge, and sometimes don’t realize they’ve made an error. Understanding how users learn and applying John Carroll’s minimalist principles will help provide solutions to this problem. Documentation that has been successfully planned and designed for minimalism may take longer to create than other manuals, but reaps the benefits of making users more productive and happy, while reducing support calls, maintenance, translation, and publishing costs. The key factors to a successful minimalist approach (or any good documentation design) are a keen understanding of your users, prototypes designed to match tasks relevant to users, and iterative testing to improve each draft.

Lester, Susan M.J. STC Proceedings (2000). Articles>TC>Writing>Minimalism

Conducting Usability Tests to Upgrade Your Web Sites  

Usability testing can be planned and executed at various levels of complexity to enhance your Web site throughout stages of development. Include usability testing in the front-end planning and set Web site usability goals. Test early prototypes and then test again to quantify improvements. Assemble a team to plan the testing even if it is just two people. If you follow a planning and testing checklist, you should be rewarded with valuable data to analyze and upgrade your Web site. The process and outcome can enhance your company¶s reputation or improve your credibility as an information designer or developer.

Lester, Susan M.J. STC Proceedings (1999). Presentations>Web Design>Usability

Using a Survey to Help Plan and Develop Your Document  

Surveys can be valuable tools for developing your document. We used our survey to answer many of our user and task analysis questions before planning content for different service manuals. When creating and using a survey, identify what information you need to know about your users, consider your options for mailing the surveys, plan a smooth processor gathering, tallying, and analyzing the data, and then remember to report back to your respondents. Ultimately, your findings can be incorporated into a recommendation report for your clients, as well as help you plan the content and layout for your document.

Lester, Susan M.J. and Lauren Y. Hansen. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Usability>Methods>Writing