The Best of Both Worlds: Combining Usability Testing and Documentation Projects  

Describes two cases in which usability testing and documentation projects were performed in conjunction with one other. It describes how usability testing affected the design and content of the documentation and how follow-on usability studies added significant new data not revealed in the initial tests.

Kantner, Laurie, Stephanie L. Rosenbaum and Connie Leas. Tec-Ed, Inc. (1997). Articles>Documentation>Usability

Capturing the Usability Chimera: Practical Applications of Usability Testing  

How do I effectively include usability as a part of developing online and printed documentation?

Holmes, Fredrick and Melissa Wallentine. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Usability>Testing>Documentation

Combining Usability Research with Documentation Development for Improved User Support  

Describes two case studies where Tec-Ed leveraged usability research and documentation activities to create solutions that met the needs of both our clients and their customers.

Keirnan, Timothy, Lori Anscheutz and Stephanie L. Rosenbaum. Tec-Ed, Inc. (2002). Articles>Documentation>Usability

A Comparison of Two Evaluation Techniques for Technical Documentation

This study compared two evaluation techniques, Usability Testing and Cognitive Walkthrough, in their ability to identify errors in aviation maintenance documentation. The techniques were evaluated to see how much unique information they each produced as well as the type of errors identified. Results showed that the techniques were complementary in their findings and both are recommended in the development of technical documentation.

Rogers, Bonnie Lida, Chris Hamblin and Alex Chaparro. Usability News (2005). Articles>Documentation>Assessment>Usability

Creating Easy-To-Use Documentation for Paper, Online and Multimedia  

The term 'easy to use' is typically used in connection with the user interface of software applications. However, the term can also be used to describe documentation, referring to techniques of organization, layout, or design that make information both easy to understand and easy to find. As the technology associated with documentation moves toward online and multimedia documentation, the concept of ease of use becomes even more important and relevant. In this paper, we address some of the differences between paper and online documentation that impact the development of easy-to-use online documentation, and outline some of the high-level, emerging issues to be aware of in the development of multimedia documentation.

Baldasare, John, Marie T, Dumbra and Barbara C. Trevaskis. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Documentation>Usability

Designing Usable Technical Documents: Why Bother?

Many professionals in the field of technical writing involved in the design of instruction guides, will at some point in their career have experienced some doubt whether their efforts to produce high quality documentation really make sense. Do consumers attach some value to the instruction guides for the products they have purchased? Do they use these documents at all, or are most instruction guides thrown away, together with the packing material of the equipment they come with?

Jansen, C. Indus (2002). Articles>Documentation>Usability

Docs in the Real World

In two recent consulting projects, we worked with online documentation developers who wanted to understand the problems users encountered and how their documentation helped solve those problems. To find out, we went and observed users in their own work environments. Although the clients and their software differ significantly, we found similar issues.

User Interface Engineering (1998). Articles>Usability>Documentation

Effects of Documentation Errors on User Perception of Interactive Programs: The Experimental Design  

It would be useful to determine how much effect errors in product documentation have on users, if the errors do not seriously interfere with product use. In an effort to start collecting information on this issue, we designed an experiment to explore the reactions of users to a simple interactive program with flawed documentation. We hypothesized that product quality would be judged in part by the quality of the documentation, if the errors in the documentation interfered with task performance. We also hypothesized that some but not all users would be sensitive to documentation errors and would downgrade their rating of the program and the documentation based on these errors. Our experimental design is described in this paper.

Ridgway, Lenore S. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Documentation>Usability

Evaluating the Effect of Iconic Linkage on the Usability of Software User Guides    

This study investigates whether Iconic Linkage--the use of the identical wording to present the same information recurring in a text--can improve the usability of user guides. Iconic Linkage is a writing strategy that potentially allows users to work more quickly and effectively and which promotes better retention of information. The usefulness of Iconic Linkage was tested in a laboratory-based usability study that combined: 1) objective task-based evaluation; and 2) users' subjective evaluations of a software program used in recording parliamentary debates. A post-test survey designed to test subjects' retention of information contained in the user guides was also administered. The study shows that Iconic Linkage significantly improved usability of the user guide: in all tasks, subjects worked more effectively and made fewer mistakes; while in the three timed tasks, subjects completed the tasks much more quickly. Subjects also gave higher ratings for the software and their retention of information was noticeably improved.

Byrne, Jody. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2005). Articles>Documentation>Software>Usability

Evaluation Toolbox for Aviation Technical Publications

This article describes the Evaluation Toolbox (Chaparro et al., 2004) - an aid to understand the process of evaluating the usability of aviation maintenance documentation -- from the initial development stage through the final pre-publication stage. This toolbox provides techniques to help technical writers better understand their users and to evaluate their documentation more effectively and efficiently.

Rogers, Bonnie Lida, Chris Hamblin and Alex Chaparro. Usability News (2005). Articles>Documentation>Assessment>Usability

Facilitate Reading

Despite the fantastic development of computers and software, the paperless society seems to be far from implementation. On the contrary, the consumption of paper for documents has increased over the recent years.

Rullgård, Åke. TC-FORUM (2000). Articles>Documentation>Usability

Faster Factfinding With Digital Libraries?  

This paper covers the usability testing of a prototype digital library. The library holds technical manuals for scientific instruments. Findings show test subjects can locate desired documents faster with this digital library than a corresponding paper library. However, the same subjects can locate desired information faster in a paper document than a digital one. Finally, most subjects reported they would prefer to using the online library of technical documents over the library of paper ones.

Barnett, Mark R. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Usability>Documentation>Online

From Good to Great—: The Finer Points of Writing User Documentation  

A few years ago, the NeXT user publications group was handed a charter to create casual books with personality. We were also told to condense the user documentation for an entire operating system and several bundled applications into 300 pages. And of course we had the top priority of creating accurate, complete, and easy-to-use documentation. To our delight, these goals ended up being mutually compatible. The keys? Task orientation, flat hierarchy, carefully crafted page design, illustration, and a casual, intelligent tone. We also broke some 'rules'! (Caution: Some of the following material may seem radical to seasoned traditionalists.)

Casabona, Helen. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Documentation>Software>Usability

Grappling with Distributed Usability: A Cultural-Historical Examination of Documentation Genres Over Four Decades    

Traditional models of usability assume that usability is a quality that can be designed into a particular artifact. Yet constructivist theory implies that usability cannot be located in a single artifact; rather, it must be conceived as a quality of the entire activity in which the artifact is used. This article describes a distributed approach to usability, based on activity theory and genre theory. It then illustrates the approach with a four-decade examination of a traffic accident location and analysis system (ALAS). Using the theoretical framework of genre ecologies, the article demonstrates how usability is distributed across the many official and unofficial (ad hoc) genres employed by ALAS users.

Spinuzzi, Clay. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2001). Articles>Documentation>Usability>History

Heuristic Inspections for Documentation – 10 Recommended Documentation Heuristics

We all are familiar with Jakob Nielsen's heuristics for evaluating the usability of interfaces. When I was conducting a study on documentation usability, I started wondering if there existed a similar set of heuristics for evaluating the usability of documentation. The natural place to pose such a question was the STC Usability SIG mailing list. The response was that there was no heuristics set available although someone had tried to open the discussion in the mailing list some time ago. An answer, which led to the list of heuristics presented below, was something along the line 'Well, now that you asked, why don't you put the heuristics together' and so I did.

Purho, Vesa. Usability Interface (2000). Articles>Usability>Documentation

In Defense of Print

The reduced reading speed on computers can be compensated by good hypertext design that allows the user to read less information and to find it faster. A typical example is online help and documentation: because the information is right there on the computer, there is no need to spend time finding the hardcopy manual, and because of good search tools and hypertext links between related information, users can go directly to the one or two sections that contain the answer to their problem. After all, Nielsen's first law of computer documentation is that users don't read it. The second law is that if they read it anyway, it's because they are in deep trouble and need the answer to a specific problem. Thus, somebody reading a manual won't really read it cover-to-cover, so online presentation makes perfect sense.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (1996). Articles>Documentation>Online>Usability

Incorporating Usability Testing into the Documentation Process    

Describes how one company approaches usability testing of documentation and incorporates usability testing into its writing process through a Documentation Usability Team.

Postava-Davignon, Christi-Anne, Candice Kamachi, Cory Clarke, Gregory Kushmerek, Mary Beth Rettger, Pete Monchamp and Rich Ellis. Technical Communication Online (2004). Articles>Usability>Methods>Documentation

Information Engineering: Taking Technical Communication to the Next Level  

The technical communication community can no longer be satisfied to produce documentation that scores high in quality but low in effectiveness. We must use whatever means necessary to ensure our users reach their goals with as few obstacles and distractions as possible. This will require us to change the very nature of our work, from simply documenting complexity to designing collaborative systems. Our ultimate goal is not to write a better manual or online help system or web page, but to ensure that human beings and products can work together effectively to achieve common objectives.

Bowie, John S. STC Region 7 Proceedings (2003). Articles>Documentation>Usability

The Key for Effective Documentation: Answer the User's Real Question

To successfully communicate to users, documentation must do more than meet the user’s information needs, it must present the information in the same way the user processes the information. The design of software and it accompanying documentation must be reconceived so that the design is done from the problem-solver’s point of view.

Albers, Michael J. Usability Interface (2005). Articles>Documentation>Usability

The Kind of Documentation Users Really Want

Have you ever asked your users what kind of training materials they want, or how they prefer to learn software? This kind of information is critical to figuring out what help deliverables to produce. But really when it comes down to it, there are only so many options — printed manuals, short guides, interactive flash guides, videos, online help, live training, reference cards, context-sensitive help, workbooks and exercises, or, usually the favorite, someone to stand by their computer and answer questions whenever they need help.

Johnson, Tom H. I'd Rather Be Writing (2008). Articles>Documentation>Usability>User Centered Design

KISMIF: Editing Your Own Manuals for Increased Usability  

Writers who must edit their own manuals for ease of use can adopt three basic principles for doing so. The first principle, 'give the user a map,' helps users find information in an unfamiliar manual. The second, 'start from the user's viewpoint, ' presents information in the order the user needs it. The third principle, 'keep it simple,' puts complex data in simpler terms and formats.

Femia, Jean W. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Documentation>Usability

Lessons Learned from Usability Testing of the Documentation  

This presentation and demonstration will first establish the principles behind usability testing of the documentation, then show examples of lessons learned from testing both print and online documentation. Video clips of actual tests will be used to make some compelling points. The session will be especially useful to those who are interested in usability testing but haven't done it yet.

Barnum, Carol M. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Documentation>Usability>Testing

Little Machines: Understanding Users Understanding Interfaces    

This paper questions the ubiquitous practice of supplying minimalist information to users, of making that information functional only, of assuming that the Shannon-Weaver communication model should govern online systems, and of ignoring the social implications of such a stance. Help systems that provide fast, temporary solutions without providing any background information lead to the danger of users completing tasks that they do not understand at all. (Word will help us write a legal pleading, even if we have no idea what one is.) As a result, we have help systems that attempt to be invisible and to provide tool instruction but not conceptual instruction. Such a system presents itself as a neutral tool, but it is actually an incomplete environment, denying both the complexity and alternative (and possibly improved) modes of thinking about the subject at hand.

Johnson-Eilola, Johndan. Journal of Computer Documentation (2001). Articles>Documentation>User Centered Design>Usability

Making Online Information Usable

So you follow all the standards and guidelines, but suffer nagging questions about whether anyone can and will use the help you’ve just written. Or management wants you to move your printed documentation online, but you wonder whether that’s really best for your users. In the course of our consulting work, we’ve done dozens of usability studies that focus on how people use a variety of printed and online documentation, including manuals, help, cue-cards, and wizards. We’d like to share some of our results and observations, in hopes that this will help you make more informed design decisions.

User Interface Engineering. Articles>Usability>Documentation

Managing Customer Feedback on User Documentation

Customer-feedback concerning product documentation is an 'artifact' of value. Product/project management depends on documentation groups to play an active role in closing the feedback acceptance and incorporation cycle to the best satisfaction of the sending-customer.

Parameswaran, Jaya. Usability Interface (2005). Articles>Documentation>Usability