Design Specifications and Guidelines - User Assistance
User assistance really begins with a good design methodology where you understand your users, how they work, and the problems they encounter. As much as possible, you follow the basic design principles and processes to create an interface that users can learn easily and operate efficiently.
However, to supplement ease of use and support efficient and complex operations, you will inevitably need to provide some form of user assistance. The ideal form of user assistance integrates seamlessly into your application's overall design. Its interface should be simple, efficient, and relevant; the interface should enable the user to get help easily and then return to a task.
Context-sensitive or What's This? Help is the most commonly encountered form of user assistance. Context-sensitive Help provides brief descriptions about the purpose of a control or other object in the interface. Because this form of on-demand user assistance is provided throughout the interface, users come to depend on its availability. Therefore, support this form of user assistance where possible in your application's windows.
There are many other forms of user assistance. The following table describes other common methods and where they can apply:
| Common User Assistance Methods | ||
|---|---|---|
| Method | When to use it | Typical audience |
| What's This? Help | All screen items; limited screen real estate prevents detailed descriptions | All users |
| Help buttons | Complex user interface | All users |
| Status bar messages | Complex user interface | Intermediate to expert users |
| ToolTips | Complex user interface | Novice users |
| Reference Help | Technical applications (such as languages, syntaxes, or definitions) | Technical users |
| Procedural Help | Moderate to complex user interfaces | Novice and intermediate users |
| Conceptual Help | Processes that span several tasks, complex ideas or concepts | Novice and intermediate users |
| Wizards | Complex, low-frequency tasks; tasks that require a user to walk through a complicated sequence of steps; often requires data entry by the user | All users |
| Tour | General feature capabilities; feature highlights | Novice users |
| Tutorial | Complicated user interface for novices; no user assistance support available for user | Novice users and self-taught users |
These techniques are described in more detail throughout this chapter.
Fundamentals of Designing User Interaction
Design Specifications and Guidelines