A Rhetorical Definition

In designing human interfaces—and your Help system is after all, one kind of interface—it is useful to remember that we are engaged in the business of convincing each other, that we are engaged in a rhetorical process. When the structure, the organization, the text, the graphics, the links, and the various details are skillfully used to produce an intended effect, we call that effect rhetorical. In its most general sense, rhetoric is simply a form of communication. In practice, almost every communication is rhetorical in that it uses some device to try to influence the thought and actions of an audience.

The Help author also has a rhetorical purpose, and rhetoric includes the ways in which the Help author’s intended purpose and design are accomplished. For every author should work with a specific design in view. That design object may be merely to give users plain information; it may be to teach them important concepts; it may be to change users’ opinions about something; it may even be to amuse and entertain them. But whatever the specific design objective, your primary purpose is to make others see the subject as you see it—with the same clearness, the same fullness, the same understanding.

Because designing Help files is a rhetorical process, the Help designer must be clear about the Help file’s purpose right from the start. Otherwise, the result may be interesting or entertaining, but not necessarily effective or helpful to users. Therefore, your first task is to identify the objectives you hope to achieve by creating the Help file. A good deal of the early part of the design process should be spent gathering information about the product and target audience and in planning the system.