The material in this chapter is a guide to only the first step in designing a Help system. It is an important step, but it may not take you as far as you’d like to go. To further your understanding of online design issues, consult some of the many excellent books available on these subjects. For example, look at some books on user-interface design, screen design, graphics design, instructional design, hypertext, and online Help systems. These books go into much greater depth than we can go into here.
This chapter provides useful background information about designing online Help files. It offers general principles and guidelines you can follow to get started thinking about the design choices and decisions you will have to consider when creating your Help system. Specific guidelines for creating Help files consistent with Microsoft Windows are in Chapter 4, “Help Authoring Guidelines.”