#34506
Usability in Context-Sensitive Help: Re-Imagining the Ordinary to Provide More Business Value 
Context-sensitive help is a practical way to cut down on customer support expenses and add more value to documentation. By providing more complex, context-sensitive help, the usability of the help increases while call center phone calls decrease.
Putkey, Theresa. Intercom (2009). Articles>Documentation>Help>Usability
#34507
Makes the case for embedded help as one of the most effective ways to integrate help within an interface. Although it can be difficult, Bleiel illustrates a way to “elegantly implement and map embedded help.”
Bleiel, Nicoletta A. Intercom (2009). Articles>Documentation>Help>Usability
#34513
Microblogging and Writing Error Messages
You can definitely apply some of the concepts of microblogging to crafting error messages. Like a good tweet or a http://www.identi.ca or a jaiku, a good error message must: be concise; contain useful information, for both the person reading it and technical support; and be easy to read and understand.
Nesbitt, Scott. DMN Communications (2009). Articles>Documentation>Help>Blogging
#34545
Do we need to have an external help system? Why not embed help right into the application? Why not take this a step or two further? Instead of having a separate help system, integrate more useful, more robust, and context-sensitive help into the user interface.
Nesbitt, Scott. DMN Communications (2009). Articles>Documentation>Help>Technical Writing
#34577
The Myth of Simplicity and Complexity in Help Authoring
Although simplicity is a noble ideal, and something like “simplify complexity” could be the mission statement of any technical writer, simplicity is in fact a complex undertaking. The interplay between simplicity and complexity is what technical writing is all about.
Johnson, Tom H. I'd Rather Be Writing (2008). Articles>Documentation>Help>Minimalism
#34714
How Embedded User Assistance Impacts Documentation
Embedded user assistance is only part of a complete documentation plan. It does not replace the need for other types of content. For example, embedded user assistance is not a good delivery mechanism for comprehensive concepts and detailed discussions of a topic with strategy and best practice guidelines. However, with a strong design, embedded user assistance can support the immediate needs of the user and provide a valuable, contextual link that steers the user into the other parts of the documentation as needed.
Mueller, Paul. Answers for All (2009). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help
#34809
If you're moving to Flare from another help authoring tool, you'll find that Flare's stylesheet editor is very powerful but different than other stylesheet editors that you may have used. And if Flare is your first help authoring tool, you may find the stylesheet editor overpowering at first. To help you get over that initial hump, Hyper/Word Services offers a stylesheet for Flare that will help you learn to use the stylesheet editor, and that may apply to actual projects.
HyperWord (2009). Articles>Documentation>Help>Madcap Flare
#34889
Discovering Relationship Tables
Lately I’ve been creating context-sensitive help for an online application. As part of my strategy, I’ve been trying to follow Theresa Putkey’s advice in “Usability in Context-Sensitive Help.” In her article, Theresa recommends providing more than just the steps for a specific task in the context-sensitive help window. Instead, she says to show more contextual links, including answers to why, when, and who questions, because too frequently the user who searches for help may have needs outside the specific task you describe.
Johnson, Tom H. I'd Rather Be Writing (2009). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help
#35189
This Fast Track tutorial demonstrates how to create automatic line numbering in a code block.
Palinkas, Frank M. helpware.net (2009). Articles>Documentation>CSS>Help
#35190
Calling Accessible Context-Sensitive Help with Unobtrusive DOM/JavaScript: A Help Authoring Guide
This Fast Track tutorial demonstrates two methods to call Context-Sensitive Help in a Web Form. We'll discover how Unobtrusive DOM/JavaScript achieves the desired result in calling Context-Sensitive help, and demonstrate how to keep the Structure, Presentation, and Behavior layers of a web page completely separate from one another ensuring good practice with current web standards and accessibility rules.
Palinkas, Frank M. helpware.net (2009). Articles>Web Design>Documentation>Help
#35203
Simplicity Trumps Complexity….Mostly!
One of the tips for creating a help project is to keeps things simple. This applies as much to the content as it does to the manner in which it is produced. The tool used to produce it has a big bearing on how simple the documentation process is of course but sometimes you just have to bend the rules.
McAndrew, Colum. RoboColum(n), The (2009). Articles>Documentation>Help>Minimalism
#35210
As help systems continue to evolve, whatever name they are called, we will increasingly have to face responsibility for their content, and bring their expertise to what we write. The new systems provide us with all the required tools that tell us the problems with their content. It is up to us to leverage that information to provide better content, and act as ambassadors for products that we write. If writers can go a step ahead, and use their help information to sell products, and reduce the burden on customer support, we would have truly arrived.
Kurnool, Preran. Indus (2009). Articles>Web Design>Documentation>Help
#35339
Choosing a Help Authoring Tool
Help authoring tools (HATs) are specialized editors and converters to create online technical documentation. Today, many help authoring tools also provide features for single source publishing, which means that you can generate several output formats and versions from one shared text source. While most tools manage to produce different online formats like browser-based help and compiled help very well, only few tools can also produce printed user manuals (or PDF) of professional quality. Big differences also exist between the tools when it comes to translating your projects into foreign languages.
Achtelig, Marc. indoition engineering. Articles>Documentation>Software>Help
#35356
Three Decades of Research and Professional Practice on Printed Software Tutorials for Novices 
Provides a historic overview of research on printed software tutorials. Describes developments in design approaches, refinements in design, and user experience.
van der Meij, Hans, Joyce Karreman and Michaël Steehouder. Technical Communication Online (2009). Articles>Documentation>Help>User Experience
#35495
As I've continued to teach my online RoboHelp class to students who attend from all over the world, one recurring issue has been confusion over the following three RoboHelp features: the start page, the project title and the default topic. The three files/names are totally different, having nothing to do with each other, but are commonly confused. By the time you are finished reading this text, I'm hoping that the confusion is a thing of the past.
Siegel, Kevin A. I Came, I Saw, I Learned (2009). Articles>Documentation>Help>Adobe RoboHelp
#35520
Single Sourcing Help Content for Software Manuals
Mohr details a method by which you can single-source content from an online help system to produce a manual for the same software application.
Mohr, Robert P. Intercom (2009). Articles>Single Sourcing>Documentation>Help
#35571
Adding Screenshots in Help Topics
Here are a few tips for adding screenshots to your help topics.
HelpScribe (2009). Articles>Documentation>Help>Screen Captures
#35588
With in excess of ten years front line authoring experience and many more producing training documentation, I have a passion for language, its use and its odities. I was an Account Manager for a computer bureau providing a service to the advertising industry prior to taking the plunge into technical authoring. A large part of this was the production of technical training material for the ad-hoc customer training and classroom led courses held in the company’s training suite.
McAndrew, Colum. RoboColum(n), The (2009). Articles>Documentation>Help>Minimalism
#35642
Install Windows' Old-School "Help" in Windows 7 
If you've installed older software in Windows 7, you might notice that .hlp-formatted Help files aren't recognized or supported. Microsoft offers a free download to read and manage those WinHelp files.
Purdy, Kevin. LifeHacker (2009). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help
