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Program
Description
Let's face it -- for the most part, users do not want to
use Help systems, and all too often, they don't. It is a challenge
to figure out how to integrate supporting information into
a product in a way that encourages users to actually make
use of it.
This session presents a case study where adoption of a web-based
application depends on users' early success in using it, and
on their perception that the product is easy to use and learn.
Providing user assistance in a format that people will actually
use is critical to the success of the product.
Fortunately, the product designers and developers are fully
behind the concept of integrating user assistance into the
user interface, so the hurdle of "getting screen real-estate"
has already been addressed. But that is only the beginning.
The next challenge is figuring out exactly what information
to integrate. Screen real estate is limited, so how do you
make sure you add the right text? When a goal is to provide
answers to users' questions at the point at which they have
them, how do you select what links to provide? What if you
are aware of 20 questions that users may have on a given screen,
at different points in their work process? Or different topics
that are important to different users?
In this talk, Linda Urban will focus on how these and other
questions and issues are being addressed on this project.
They will discuss the techniques and activities that proved
most useful in defining and developing the content, and discuss
how they are
- Determining what links to put on the page
- Layering information to provide more when users are ready
for it
- Using help topics as active job aids that can drive the
application
- Deciding what to leave out
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