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Subject:Help/User assistance for web sites From:"Chuck Martin" <twriter -at- sonic -dot- net> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 22 May 2002 11:14:54 -0700
I'm doing some research on Help systems (user assistance) on web sites (not
web-based applications), especially membership and e-commerce sites. I'm
wonderiing if anyone is doing precisely this and what tools and technologies
they are using.
I've found a number of interesting things already by looking at many popular
web sites. One interesting thing that I found already is that many popular
sites, such as microsoft.com, cnn.com, visa.com, cnet.com, goole.com,
aol.com, adobe.com, and netscape.com, have no visible (or at least easily
discernable) Help links or buttons on their front pages.
msn.com, amazon.com, yahoo.com, etrade.com, ebay.com, and paypal.com are
some of the sites I've reviewd so far that have Help systems. (And I've been
looking at the underlying code as well.)
I've been reviewing some of the pre-packages Help tools for creating
web-based Help systems, including Deva Tools, AuthorIT, and Doc-To-Help.
(Unfortunately, I installed an eval of the Robo tools some months back, but
never got to do a thorough evaluation, and now an uninstall and re-install
won't let me re-evaluate, and when I asked for more time from eHelp, I got
no response.) I'm still leery of getting clean HTML out of a Word-based
solution, and I can find no way to even view the HTML/source from within
AuthorIT.
But I've also been thinking about the "need" to have a "traditional" Help
system for a web site, with the typical navigation on the left and a content
pane on the right. From the looks of things, all the sites I've seen so far
that provide user assistance, they have all "rolled their own" to create
what they wanted. (Whether it's useful to their users is another matter.)
Whatever I decide, it has to be clean (valid HTML/XHTML), light (no big Java
applets), cross browser, and easy to maintain. We have some JavaScripting
expertise here, so a roll-our-own system might not be out of the question.
thx
--
--
"I don't entirely understand it but it is true: Highly skilled
carpenters don't get insulted when told they are not architects,
but highly skilled programmers do get insulted when told
they are not UI designers."
- anonymous programmer quoted in "GUI Bloopers"
Chuck Martin
User Assistance & Experience Engineer
twriter "at" sonic "dot" net www.writeforyou.com
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