the evolution of online help
TRANSCRIPT
The Evolution of Online Helpfrom user guides to task oriented help
Diana Lakatos, technical writer
What’s more important:UX or documentation?
UXvisual design
interaction design
information architecture
usability
familiarity of a user with an interface is based on user’s previous experience with similar interfaces
good UX builds on similar interfaces
chasing cultural consciousness
Are you prepared to ignore some of your customers or do you create backup plans for the people that have a different experience profile?
Why would you need documentation?
Cognitive load on the Internet
What is cognitive load?What are the consequences?
consuming information in a hurry
becoming impatient
wanting instant gratification
attention span decreases
no time for deep thinking
no time for learning
Make it quick, make it relevant, otherwise no one will care.
separate piece of documentation
switching back and forth
interpret and remember steps
Manuals & video tutorials
Continuously changing products
documentation only works if it’s up-to-date
keeping screenshots and videos up-to-date is time-consuming
even small changes on the interface can be visible in many related tutorials
users have to abstract information in order to apply it
Communities & collaborationopen source software (collaborate, reuse)
documentation for open source projects typically written by a small group of people
tools?
reuse?
Stepped contextual help
user guides, video tutorials
contextual help
stepped contextual help
Our approach based on DITA principles
WalkHubframework for integrated tutorials, GPS for the Internet
Drupal
Selenium testing format/recorder
Joyride.JS
open source product
Topic-orientationtopic
task
concept
reference
Minimalism
Chunking
Prerequisites
Walkthrough Suites
Single-sourcing
Community
Re-use
WalkHub workshop 14:30, Ursa Minor