Rethinking User-Centered Information Development  

Often in the computer industry there is a tendency to provide information about the features of a system. However, customers usually purchase the system based on knowledge of its features, when they receive the product they need information on how to accomplish tasks. Developing task-oriented information requires a shift in perspective from what the computer technology can do, to what your customers want to do with the technology. The resulting information must be usercentered rather than feature-driven. These types of customer requirements demand afresh development approach.

Stertzbach, Lori A. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Documentation>User Centered Design>Usability

Retrieving Product Documentation Online    

As our high-technology clients become increasingly knowledgeable of the power of electronic media, we are confronted with questions on how the Internet and intranets can be used to deliver technical documents online. For example, one of our clients, a large international firm whose high-technology products are currently supported by printed literature, wants to be able to deliver their product documentation electronically, on customer demand. Their customers, typically professionals working in a fast-paced technical environment, need quick and easy access to appropriate technical information to configure our client's products.

In this article, we discuss how we came to answer our client's question: 'How can we make it easier for our customers to retrieve technical documents from our electronic library?' As we discuss below, we decided that searching online libraries could be facilitated by making the organization of the library conceptually apparent.

Racine, Sam J. and Irving B. Crandall. Technical Communication Online (2001). Design>Information Design>Documentation

The Return to Content in Help Design  

Zubak discusses four trends she has observed in the content development of online user assistance.

Zubak, Cheryl Lockett. Intercom (2003). Design>Documentation>Help

Screen Captures to Support Switching Attention      

This study set out to validate the supportive role of screen captures for switching attention. Forty-two participants learned how to work with Microsoft Excel with a paper manual. There were three types of manuals: a textual manual, a visual manual with full-screen captures, and a visual manual with a mixture of partial- and full-screen captures. The findings show that participants in all conditions looked up from the manual to the screen on about 97% of the cases in which such a switch was called for. Rank order analyses showed that users of the visual manuals switched attention significantly more often than did users of the textual manual. No differences were found between conditions on learning effects and training time.

Gellevij, Mark and Hans Van Der Meij. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication (2002). Design>Graphic Design>Documentation>Screen Captures

Screenshots with the Mouse Pointer

How to produce screenshots which include the mouse-pointer.

Springer, Hans. TC-FORUM (1999). Articles>Graphic Design>Documentation>Screen Captures

Single Source Documentation for Today

What happens when the software firm you work for decides it will not deliver large printed manuals any more? Then the request comes to put everything online. Six months later, user profiles shift to the World Wide Web and you're asked to deliver HTML. In the future, a database of SGML information chunks may let us deliver anything, any which way.

Stieren, Carl. Simware (1997). Design>Documentation>Single Sourcing>Online

Six Tips for Improving Your Design Documentation

Documentation is a crucial component of successful product planning and implementation, so it's important that it communicates as effectively as possible. Good organization, complete information, and clear writing are, of course, key to the success of any design document, but there are some other, less-obvious techniques you can use to make your documents more readable and understandable. Here are a few of them.

Olshavsky, Ryan. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Articles>Documentation>Document Design

Six Tips for Improving Your Design Documentation

Good organization, complete information, and clear writing are, of course, key to the success of any design document, but there are some other, less-obvious techniques you can use to make your documents more readable and understandable. Here are a few of them.

Olshavsky, Ryan. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Articles>Web Design>Documentation

Stop Writing Documentation!  

Redesign your information; write topics, not books.

Hackos, JoAnn T. ComTech Services (2001). Articles>Documentation>User Centered Design

Strategies for Producing Browser-Based Technical Documentation

This Technical Note attempts to provide a few good strategies for resolving some of the issues around producing and viewing Web-based technical documentation. The Note may be useful for engineers, technical writers and content producers who must wrestle with issues of producing documents such as ReadMe files, Release Notes, technical articles, and other forms of technical communication that land on the Web.

Apple Inc. (1996). Design>Documentation>Help>Online

Structured Authoring and XML: Part One

Implementing structured authoring with XML allows organizations to create better content. The addition of hierarchy and metadata to content improves reuse and content management. These benefits, however, must be weighed against the time and money required to implement a structured authoring approach. The business case is compelling for larger writing organizations; they will be the first to adopt structured authoring. Over time, improvements in available tools will reduce the cost of implementing structured authoring and make it affordable for smaller organizations.

O'Keefe, Sarah S. Carolina Communique (2003). Articles>Documentation>Information Design>XML

Structured Authoring and XML: Part Three

Not every content-creation group will benefit from structured authoring and XML. Sometimes, the expense of implementation outweighs the benefits realized, especially in smaller groups with less total page count.

O'Keefe, Sarah S. Carolina Communique (2004). Articles>Documentation>Information Design>XML

Structured Authoring and XML: Part Two

In a structured authoring environment, authors create documents by assembling elements and text in an order permitted by the structure definition document. You might think of structured authoring as being similar to template-based authoring with a strict template. Authors do not assign formatting; the formatting is automatically assigned based on the structure of the document. Formatting may differ for different output media.

O'Keefe, Sarah S. Carolina Communique (2003). Articles>Documentation>Information Design>XML

Structuring Help for Re-Use  

Many teams are still laboring to transform poorly organized manuals into online help. But the biggest cllallege you face going from paper to online is not interface, but structure The better your structure, the easier your users will navigate.

Price, Jonathan R. STC Proceedings (1995). Presentations>Documentation>Information Design

Systems That Get Better the More People Use Them

In Publishing 2.0, Tim O'Reilly says Web 2.0 is 'any network effect that makes a system better the more people use it.' Web 2.0 isn’t just user-generated content; it’s harnessing the collective intelligence of your users to make your system better.

Johnson, Tom H. I'd Rather Be Writing (2008). Articles>Documentation>Web Design>Social Networking

Taking a Second Look at Screen Captures  

Asserts that screen captures aren't as necessary and helpful as many writers of documentation might think.

Bright, Kathy. Intercom (2001). Design>Documentation>Graphic Design>Screen Captures

Technical Writing in Everyday Life: One User's Experience

The experience of setting up a new home theater system also sharply reminded me of what it is like to look at something as a new user: staring at a bunch of knobs and holes for the first time, holding a tassel of wire in one hand and a manual in the other, and really just wanting the darn piece of ?%^%! to do what it's supposed to do.

Vedrody, Sarah. MetroVoice (2002). Articles>Documentation>User Centered Design>Technical Writing

Tips For Developing Smarter Documentation  

Eight tips for preparing documentation that might require localization at some point in the future.

Lingo Systems (2002). Design>Language>Localization>Documentation

Tips for the Help Developer: Reliability Testing  

Walstad presents a process for reliability testing in the development of help systems. She offers tips for ensuring reliability in each of the three steps: designing, planning, and testing. This article includes a list of online resources.

Walstad, Catherine M. Intercom (2000). Design>Documentation>Help

User Perceptions and Point of View in Technical Illustrations  

Test subjects were asked to match body images shown from varying points of view. Their preference was for images that placed critical distances across the display plane; their error patterns suggest that several variables interact to affect the accuracy of perceiving body positions in illustrations.

Krull, Robert, Debopriyo Roy, Shreyas D'Souza and Marilyn Morgan. STC Proceedings (2003). Design>Documentation>Technical Illustration

User-Driven Documentation: From Usability Testing to User Guide  

Rockwell Software is a $90-million company specializing in plant automation software. Offices in West Allis, Wisconsin, and Mayfield Village, Ohio allow technical communicators to work closely with development teams to design, test, and release usable, consistent software and information products. While Rockwell Software’s information development process is a multi-faceted endeavor, this paper focuses on the following three steps we implement to create our information products: interviewing customers to establish information guidelines, conducting usability tests, and writing Getting Results guides.

Butler, Scott A., Jennifer L. Giordano and Myron M. Shawala III. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Documentation>User Centered Design>Usability

Using a Database as a Feedback Mechanism  

The success of any technical document depends on the reliability of information presented in the document. A database can provide an informal mechanism for exchanging information about product development and support, The database system should have a user interface that is easy to use and does not require too many operations. Factors that must be addressed in the design, testing, and implementation of the database include the type of information, ownership, system maintenance, access control, and system development tools. Writers, who have special expertise in information gathering, can take the initiative and build support for the project.

Govindan, Anumarla and Nancy E. Jacobs. STC Proceedings (1993). Design>Documentation>Assessment>Databases

Using Customer Data to Drive Documentation Design Decisions    

This article shows how user-centered design can be applied to documentation and reports the results of a two-year contextual design study. The article (1) demonstrates how contextualdesign can be applied to information and (2) reports some of the study's results,outlining key insights gleaned about users. The study found that users vary widely intheir information needs and preferences. Users employ a variety of learning strategies inlearning new software and in overcoming problems encountered within applications.Documentation can better meet variances in learning styles and user preferences whentightly integrated into applications, accessible in the user's own language. Additionally,documentation is most beneficial when several assistance options exist for users tochoose among, varying according to context, task, and user need. Finally, the article discussesthe constraints that affect the implementation of design ideas and explores implicationsfor practice and additional research.

Smart, Karl L. and Matthew E. Whiting. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2002). Articles>Documentation>User Centered Design

Using Customer Inquiries as a Basis for Revising and Editing User Manuals  

The Documentation Development Department (DDD) of Hitachi has been improving manuals by collecting, classifying, and analyzing inquiries from its customers to the Hitachi Customer Answer (HCA) Center. The HCA Center is a telephone inquiry center established to give quick and clear answers to inquiries from customers who use Hitachi computers.

Masuda, Tadashi. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Documentation>User Centered Design

Using Graphics to Help Users Build Mental Models  

Research shows that adults learn more efficiently when they have formed an accurate mental model of the product they are trying to use. We can help our users form accurate mental models more quickly by graphically depicting that model on the interface. One product using that approach allowed engineers to become productive with no reference to user documentation.

Elser, Arthur G. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Documentation>Graphic Design