RE: Usefulness of "What's This" help

["Glenn Maxey" <glenn -dot- maxey -at- voyanttech -dot- com>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: bounce-techwr-l-58477 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
> [mailto:bounce-techwr-l-58477 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com]On Behalf Of David B.
> Stewart
> Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2001 1:46 PM
> To: TECHWR-L
> Subject: RE: Usefulness of "What's This" help
>
>
>
> >>...these pop-up all too often don't have enough meaty info
> about the item in question...<snip>
> ...Specifically, first have the developers change the API call to
> be a topic jump (to a banner topic) instead of a pop-up call. <<
>
> Why not just add more meat to the pop-up?

Dave, you're certainly right that adding more meat (or tofu) in any event
may be called for.

My suggestion (to scrap the pop-up's in favor of banner topics and mid-topic
jumps) stems from my belief that the mechanics of pop-up's is flashy and
whiz-bang yet lacking in usability even before the content is scrutinized.

- Too many clicks to get sufficient information.
- Too difficult to get to related (let alone "adjacent") topics.
- Too much non-persistence. {The pop-up's don't stay open to allow you to
compare its information with your actual dialog box.)
- Little navigation. (No buttons or pull-down menus.)
- Hidden right-click features. (I mean if the topic goes away when I
left-click ANYWHERE, what makes them think that I'll open it again and try a
right-click?)

> If someone bothers to create a
> pop-up, its content should be insightful.

You're absolutely right. When the development process is looked at as a
whole, the lack of info can be rationalized:

- The project has tight schedules.
- The program has major bugs and missing (promised) functionality.
- It is all the tech writer can do to convince the developer to divert their
attention from the incomplete functionality to add/debug content IDs.
- It is considered a victory if the tech writer was even able to get the
pop-up's to work.
- There may be little information about feature X available from the
requirements specification or the implementing engineer, because sometimes
even they don't know how X works. It may have been a request coming from an
in-the-trenches field engineer and is understood by the customer, just not
by those of us making it happen. (Software engineers aren't
electrical/mechanical/civil engineers, accountants, etc.)
- "Let's ship it and make our schedules and then correct it later based on
internal/external user feedback."

I'm not saying that this is right. I'm saying that it is often the reality
(and I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.)

Hence, if these factors are playing a role in reducing the meat/tofu, I say
that these weak cutlets for a dialog box can all reside in the same kettle
(topic) -- neatly organized, of course -- so as to not waste more of the
user's time than necessary in learning what little there is available to
learn.

> Personally, I have found "What's This" content to be lacking (if
> present at all) in products I have used.

I believe that this is one of the reasons why Microsoft's HTML Help does not
support this... That, and the fact that tools for writing are considered a
necessary evil and generate little income or market share, so don't merit
focus. MS Help 2.0 -- four+ years after HTML Help 1.0 and lots of
promises -- still isn't out.

> It would be good to see a study of why we have "What's This" in the first
> place.

IMHO this verges on a good example of development running the show and
saying "we'll do this whiz-bang feature just because we can." I was happy to
see pop-ups leave in favor of the tri-pane design of HTML Help. I'm also
glad that Clippy is "leaving to pursue other endeavors." Now if only we can
get Microsoft to down-size the autocorrect "bug" in favor of stable &
working numbered/bulleted lists and master documents.

Glenn Maxey
Voyant Technologies, Inc.
Tel. +1 303.223.5164
Fax. +1 303.223.5275
glenn -dot- maxey -at- voyanttech -dot- com


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