The Anatomy of a Help File: An Iterative Approach

This article presents an approach to Help file design that focuses on creating a task-centered user experience and accommodates an iterative development strategy. This methodology allows the introduction of user assistance into early test phases--not only getting earlier validation for its accuracy, but also supporting quality assurance testing by serving as the test scripts for interactions with the user interface. This approach can also be a self-contained strategy--that is, one that allows an iterative approach to user assistance development even if the rest of product development operates on a waterfall model.

Hughes, Michael A. UXmatters (2007). Articles>Documentation>Methods>Help

Authoring for Electronic Delivery  

Caterpillar is dramatically changing the way technical, product support information is authored. Book paradigms have been replaced by the more granular Information Element (IE) approach. The new integrated environment utilizes Unix based, TCP/IP connected, ECALS compliant tools on multi-tasking author workstations. Research data, in-process work approved IE's and relational indices are distributed to work group servers. Application software tools include a graphics editor and an interactive, context sensitive, SGML text editor. The environment is managed by a robust file management system that provides file tracking, revision control, workflow sensitive tool launching, burden planning and management reporting capabilities.

Hudson, Dave. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help

Autorenwerkzeuge für Online-Hilfen

Umfassender Marktüberblick über rund 50 Help Authoring Tools (HAts).

Achtelig, Marc. indoition engineering. (German) Articles>Documentation>Software>Help

Beyond Help: Making Help a Core Component of a Performance Support System  

With the advent of HTML Help and the ability to embed Help directly inside an application, there's been an increased interest in creating Help systems that are seamlessly integrated with their host applications. By blurring the line between the application and the Help that supports it, and by developing Help that automatically responds to user actions, application developers and Help authors now have the ability to develop true electronic performance support systems.

Wexler, Steven S. ComponentOne (1998). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help

Beyond Software Manuals and On-line Help: Interactive Help

Software user guides have traditionally provided assistance when the user requested help. Context-sensitivity enabled help systems to predict the most appropriate topic to present. For Windows applications, the move from Microsoft WinHelp to the new Microsoft HTML Help format allows user instructions to be presented in the same window as the application. This offers technical authors some extraordinary opportunities to provide intelligent, predictive, interactive help without the user having to request it. In this paper, we will explore one of the first such interactive help systems (for the Archivist e-mail archiving software), and see where the technology is moving.

Self, Tony. HyperWrite (2003). Articles>Documentation>Interaction Design>Help

Browse Sequence in Online Help  

A browse sequence enables users to navigate through a series of help topics in the sequence established by the help author. Although often omitted from help systems, the browse sequence is useful and will become essential as print documentation diminishes. Effective design options for a browse sequence include multiple segments, rings, branching, and the use of a browse button to take the user to the first topic in the current segment of the browse sequence.

Farkas, David K. and Bruce R. Gibbs. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help

Building Documentation into the Interface  

As documentation is more and more built directly into the interface, and as technical communicators move into interface design and usability, it is important to have a theoretical framework within which to make decisions about what kind of information will be conveyed at any moment. We can build on basic principles of cognitive psychology to help us make these decisions. We start from a question: Why should users be aware of the difference between interface and documentation when all they want is to get something done?

Quesenbery, Whitney. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Documentation>User Interface>Help

"By the Way, We Also Want Online Help"  

This presentation describes a strategy to meet a last-minute enterprise demand for online help for a software application program. We established design standards for writing online help, developed a process for gaining consensus from the project team on the content of the online help, and wrote the online help. We accomplished this in less than four months-a task that originally seemed impossible.

Davis, Herbert S. and Meryl Natchez. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help

Cherryleaf Survey: Uptake of New Help Trends

During March and April 2003, Cherryleaf carried out an online survey into the current trends in technical communication. One of the questions we asked was: Do the online user assistance documents produced by your organization contain the following advanced capabilities?

Cherryleaf (2003). Articles>Documentation>Help>Online

Choosing and Using Help Topics

This paper describes some common types of help topic and when to use each. Different applications require different mixes of help topics. Choose the topic types that are appropriate for the application you are documenting.

Hollis Weber, Jean. Technical Editors Eyrie (1999). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help

Comparison of HTML Produced by Several Help Authoring Tools (HATs)

Recently, there was a lively discussion on the Help Authoring Tools and Techniques (HATT) mailing list about the relative compactness and efficiency of the HTML code produced by various Help authoring tools. As a result of these discussions, several industry consultants decided to collaborate on a project to compare the HTML, CSS, and CHM files produced by a variety of Help authoring tools.

Knopf Online. Articles>Documentation>Online>Help

Comparison of Online Help Formats

This article lists the basic differences between WinHelp version 4, Microsoft compiled HTML help, WebHelp and pure HTML help. Samples are available.

TechScribe (2003). Articles>Documentation>Standards>Help

Constructing a One-Stop "Answer Station" for Software Users  

The web allows us to easily provide updated documentation to our users, but why stop there? There is more to making users successful quickly than just providing documentation. By creating a complete "Answer Station" that is accessible from the application or product, we can not only direct users to that updated documentation, but we can also provide information about technical support, consulting, training, sales, etc. This paper discusses writing a proposal for an Answer Station, determining content, working with other departments to gather information, designing the site, making that design work with an existing corporate website, dealing with tool issues, and finally, going live.

Bleiel, Nicoletta A. and Beth A. Williams. STC Proceedings (2004). Articles>Documentation>Help>Online

Constructing a One-Stop "Answer Station" Website for Software Users

The web allows us to easily provide updated documentation to our users, but why stop there? There is more to making users successful quickly than just providing documentation. By creating a complete 'Answer Station' that is accessible from the application or product, we can not only direct users to that updated documentation, but we can also provide information about technical support, consulting, training, sales, etc. This article discusses writing a proposal for an Answer Station, determining content, working with other departments to gather information, designing the site, making that design work with an existing corporate website, dealing with tool issues, and finally, going live.

Bleiel, Nicoletta A. and Beth A. Williams. WritersUA (2004). Articles>Documentation>Web Design>Help

Context-Sensitive Help: What Programmers and Technical Authors Need to Know

Context-sensitive Help is assistance that is appropriate to where the user is in the software application, and what they are trying to do. Carol Johnston's article describes what programmers and technical authors need to know about Context-sensitive Help.

Johnston, Carol. Cherryleaf (2003). Articles>User Interface>Help>Documentation

Creating "Smart Help" with Conditional Content

Discusses several methods for making Web-based Help systems 'smart,' by using conditional content to customize the appearance and behavior of your pages to the users' needs.

Gash, Dave. WritersUA (2005). Articles>Documentation>Help>Adaptive

Creating a Hypertext Help System for a GUI-Based Client/Server Application  

We are currently in the second phase of development of a large Windows online help system. This paper reviews the major decisions we had to make during the first phase of the project, and lists some project evaluation results that have helped us plan for subsequent phases.

Asher, Betsy, David E. Lasecke and John Wenstrom. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help

Creating Optimized Cross-Platform, Cross-Browser HTML Help Using Doc-To-Help

Microsoft’s HTML Help presents a dilemma to Help authors who wish to deploy it on web sites: Should they use the ActiveX control to provide faster, more robust functionality, or should they use the Java applet to provide wider compatibility? This article shows how you can have the best of both worlds and create one HTML Help system that will be optimized for viewers regardless of whether their browser supports ActiveX or Java.

ComponentOne (2002). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help

Critical Elements in the Design of Help and Hypertext Systems  

The demand for help and hypertext systems has created a problem for many documentation departments, particularly those in smaller companies and inexperienced in creating these forms of online documentation. The scarcity of existing literature compounds this problem. This document provides writers in small companies with limited resources some suggestions to facilitate hypertext project management, planning, design, editing, and usability testing. Also discussed is how to select a hypertext package.

Wasserman, David C. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Documentation>Hypertext>Help

The Critical Role of Local Support

Adapting new equipment to your complete array of jobs, and leveraging your new investment to help your business grow and become more competitive, is part of an ongoing process that is much more important that the initial implementation. It's a process that requires an on-going partnership and several levels of support from your technology vendor-- beginning with basic maintenance and repair and optimally evolving to a true interactive partnership.

Raus, Bob. On Demand Journal (2004). Articles>Documentation>Help

Customer Support on the Web

Customers avoid web-based customer support if information is not relevant, out of date or hard to find. Without a business commitment to addressing these issues, customers will continue to prefer contacting a service representative by phone.

Szuc, Daniel and Gerry Gaffney. Apogee (2005). Articles>Documentation>Help>Online

The Death of Paper Manuals

I'll pay $20 for a manual. I'd even pay $30-40 for a manual (grudgingly...). But $65 for a manual that should be in the damn box to begin with? Sorry... NO.

DealMac (2003). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help

Delivering Training and Support Using Windows Help  

The Windows Help utility is familiar as a tool to provide context-sensitive and procedural help for people using a software application, but it also a highly effective tool for providing many kinds of desktop-based training and support within an organization. During this session, we look at a variety of systems built using Windows Help and explore why this was a good choice for the particular project.

Deaton, Mary M. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help