Examining documentation and help systems since 2002.
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Gordon R. Meyer
Copyright 2002-2009
RubyFrontier, a tool for HTML Help
RubyFrontier is a system for generating and maintaining web sites, created by technical writer Matt Neuburg specifically for the task of writing HTML-based onscreen help. Neuberg demonstrates the tool with a screencast in which he implements a help book for Apple Help, too. The tool is free and, being written in Ruby, cross-platform. See the RubyFrontier website for more information.
See also: An Apple Help Case Study and Implementing Apple Help Screencast.
Posted: Sunday, January 17, 2010 link to this item, respond to this item
Gallery of iPhone Help
I've added a new "wing" to the Gallery of Onscreen Help. This addition debuts with 335 screen shots showing sample implementations of onscreen help in iPhone applications. I hope you find it as useful as the established gallery, which I know is often utilized by instructional and graphic designers when designing new help systems. Visit the Gallery of iPhone Help.
Posted: Saturday, January 2, 2010 link to this item, respond to this item
Sometimes marketing is right
I recently purchased an inexpensive, imported "Thermometer Digital" (sic) and I was struck by how perfectly the packaging and documentation illustrated the gulf between marketing and instructional design.
Above you see the back panel of the box. It provides instructions on how to use the device and they allowed me to accomplish my task very quickly. On the left, is just one section from the user manual I found inside the box. The portion shown is the same information as given on the box, but clearly written from a different perspective. Thank heavens they had someone else write the box copy.
Posted: Wednesday, December 23, 2009 link to this item, respond to this item
Instruction manuals for criminals
A Chicago man who was recently arrested for burglarizing an automobile was discovered to have a self-written "how to guide" for breaking into vehicles. Among the tips in the book were exhortations to be vigilant and listen for squealing tires, which might indicate approaching police cruisers. A story in the Chicago Sun-Times does not indicate if the book is an early draft of the latest David Pogue "Missing Manual" publication.
Posted: Saturday, December 19, 2009 link to this item, respond to this item
Do cookbooks teach you how to cook?
Writing Why We Use Cookbooks for the New Yorker, Adam Gopnik wonders about the efficacy, as well as hidden agendas, of the cookbook industry.
Asking the same questions of your own instructional material will be illuminating.
Posted: Monday, December 14, 2009 link to this item, respond to this item
Better iPhone tutorial movies
Atebits, developer of the popular iPhone Twitter client Tweetie, has posted best practices and utilities for making better movies of iPhone applications for demonstration or instructional purposes. See Not Your Average iPhone Screencast for all the details.
Posted: Monday, November 30, 2009 link to this item, respond to this item
User testing can be a waste of time
In my experience, user testing can be helpful if you're trying to break new ground and just want a quick gut-check on the interaction design. But the desire to run "extensive user testing" as a way to "prove" something is really not at all productive or conclusive. I think you can find all the major problems in a single day, with a handful of test subjects, and that ultimately you have to trust your professional instincts anyway. This seems to jive with the opinion offered in The Myth of Usability Testing.
Posted: Wednesday, November 25, 2009 link to this item, respond to this item
Help as a polishing step
Programmer Ross Carter observes that writing onscreen Help before releasing a beta product to testers can result in a high level of polish, because writing documentation provides a new perspective that uncovers bugs and improvement opportunities. More so, I'll add, if the documentation is written by someone other than the software's designer or engineer.
Posted: Wednesday, November 11, 2009 link to this item, respond to this item
Cinematic video-based tutorials
Although few instructional videos have any sort of Hollywood-style sophistication, I believe most of them could benefit from an appropriate sprinkling of storytelling and cinematic flavor. Perhaps the iPhone application Hitchcock will help you in storyboarding your next tutorial. At the very least, you have to appreciate how it uses a fingerprint cursor in its own demonstration movie.
Posted: Sunday, November 8, 2009 link to this item, respond to this item
Designing for myopic readers
Jeff Atwood's Treating User Myopia cogently argues the point that users will not read anything you put onscreen. At best they read only the absolute minimum amount of onscreen text that is necessary to complete their task. They might, for example, read the label of control, but almost certainly not the explanatory text that goes with it. My own experience, personal and professional, agrees.
Posted: Friday, October 30, 2009 link to this item, respond to this item
Another attempt at digital magazines
One of the most resilient criticism of "onscreen books" is that they too faithfully cling to the publication metaphor and end up feeling clunky, and sometimes a little sad. Magazines are probably a better fit for simulation, particularly because of their disposable nature.
Although I have purchased magazines published using the Zinio platform, I've never been satisfied with the way they work. Particularly because of the cumbersome authentication process, which ties the file to a particular computer. So when I recently received information about a digital form of The Bark magazine I was less than enthusiastic. But to my pleasant surprise I discovered a Flash-based approach that I think works very well. You can even download the magazine in PDF for offline reading. To see it, here's free issue of The Bark to peruse.
See also: PocSci's Interactive Magazine.
Posted: Wednesday, October 21, 2009 link to this item, respond to this item
More on Apple Help with Voodoo Pad
Philippe Casgrain further reports on how he uses an advanced feature of Voodoo Pad, aliases, to take advantage of Apple Help's anchor features, ensuring that links to help pages don't break when the help is reorganized.
See also: Authoring Apple Help with Voodoo Pad.
Posted: Sunday, September 27, 2009 link to this item, respond to this item