Simple Ways to Improve the Usability of Help

According to Jacob Nielsen's How Users Read on the Web, usability of web content can be improved drastically by making content more scannable. Many of his ideas would apply equally well to online help. So, how can technical writers leverage this information to make the help for their product more usable?

Helpscribe (2008). Articles>Documentation>Usability>Help

Social or Philosophical Issues Related to the Design and Delivery of User Assistance

User assistance is defined as a form of assistance that is provided to users of products to help them use the products more easily and efficiently. In the Information Technology industry, a product is a software product/application that users use to perform specific business functions. Users of these products/applications use them differently, based on their social and philosophical environment, their cultural context, their learnability and a number of other factors. While the same user assistance must necessarily be designed and delivered to the users of a product, because all users use a particular product/application to perform similar tasks, user assistance can be designed and delivered differently to users, based on their social and philosophical environment. This could enable users from diverse social and philosophical backgrounds use the same products/applications more effectively.

Das, Pradipto. Usability Interface (2007). Articles>Documentation>Usability>Help

Software User Assistance Project Management

This article takes a look at a methodology for developing and managing a Software User Assistance (UA) System, a way of doing things in a structured manner. It provides a complete walkthrough for managers responsible for designing, developing, and managing a software product’s user assistance system. The software’s UA system could comprise of both paper-based user manuals and online help systems.

Ferris, Tamara. Klariti. Articles>Documentation>Usability>Help

Voters Learn the Importance of Usability

It has been an exciting few months, what with the usability flaws in the 'butterfly ballot' in Florida possibly changing the course of history. The good news is that the controversy put usability into the public conversation with news articles, press releases, and even new research articles. It was an opportunity to explain 'what we do' to friends, relatives, and associates. Some of the lessons from the 2000 Presidential election are the basics of Usability 101.

Quesenbery, Whitney. Usability Interface (2001). Articles>Documentation>Help>Usability

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

Bringing Help to the Forefront: Strategies to Increase the Usability of Your Software User Assistance and Your Product    

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