RE: User's guide for Web applications

[Kim Wallace <KWallace -at- stewart -dot- com>]

Laura:

I recently wrote an administrator's guide for a web site. Sounds strange,
yes, but we had little time to spend on the UI, plus we needed to document
some concepts that would have required more web pages to explain.

The web pages are linked to the PDF using Acrobat's named destinations. When
you click the link, the PDF opens in a separate browser window at the page
that, uh, well, discusses the web page.

My audience was our help center's staff. I did not include "how-to" because
the web pages included completion instructions. I stuck to conceptual
information, though I did provide page trees to navigate to the right place.
And I update the book on the fly when changes warrant. Fortunately, there
haven't been any since beta finished. If I had some, I'd zip an email to the
help center's managers.

I've had good feedback on this book. They were happy to have documentation
at hand that could be printed out if needed. PDF was a good solution for our
situation.

Kim Wallace
Landata Systems
kwallace -at- stewart -dot- com
713.871.9222


-----Original Message-----
From: Laura Varteressian [mailto:LVarteressian -at- FinancialEngines -dot- com]
Sent: Monday, August 27, 2001 3:43 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: User's guide for Web applications


Do any of you write for a Web-based application? If so, maybe you can help
answer some questions we have about creating a user's guide for a Web
application. 

The technical writers here have been asked to create a user's guide in PDF
to be distributed to the end users of a new Web app. We expect users to
download the PDF from the Web site and search (and perhaps print) the
document for answers to their questions. There is no plan for online help
for the application, so all users questions need to be answered within the
application itself or in the PDF. 

Although we have extensive experience creating user's guides for
Windows-based apps, we're new to creating a similar document for a Web-based
app. (In fact, I even question the need for one, but that's a fight I'm not
going to win.) 

Have any of you dealt with the following questions, and if so, how?

How much information did you include in the application itself and in the
user's guide? Did you find that some information had to be repeated in both
media or were you able to make a clear distinction as to what goes in the
app and what goes in the doc? 
What level of detail did you go to in the user's guide? We're thinking that
our users require a broad overview of the application, but not step-by-step,
"click here," "type your name" details. 
How often do you update the PDF? Do you inform users of changes to the
user's guide, and if so, how? 
Do you include screenshots of actual Web pages in the user's guide? If so,
do you encounter difficulties in keeping the PDF current?
Have you gotten any user feedback about the user's guide that you've found
helpful? 

I'd appreciate any information you care to share about your experience in
this area. 

Thanks in advance,

Laura Varteressian
Sr. Technical Writer/Editor
Financial Engines 
Financial Engines - the power to shape the future(tm)

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