TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Mark Dempsey remembers <<...a previous post here that claimed a study of
Quicken's fancy-schmancy help system demonstrated that: 1. Users felt
satisfied with the bells and whistles, but 2. Those who had paper docs
actually learned more.>>
That was me. My comments were based on a talk given by Jared Spool of User
Interface Engineering (www.uie.com possibly?) at the STC conference in
Anaheim a couple years back. Caveat: Jared didn't go into the details of the
study in his talk, and simply used it as an anecdote supporting the fact
that bells and whistles can improve the user experience without improving
performance. Have a look at their web site to see if the information's there
(probably not), or to get contact info. for Jared and his group.
"Technical writing... requires understanding the audience, understanding
what activities the user wants to accomplish, and translating the often
idiosyncratic and unplanned design into something that appears to make
sense."--Donald Norman, The Invisible Computer
