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Subject:RE: Creating one help system From:Sean Hower <hokumhome -at- freehomepage -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 10 Jan 2003 09:25:33 -0800 (PST)
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Jim Shaeffer wrote:
Ah, but if the user's question is whether the software can perform
a certain desired task, then there's no telling what paths the user
might follow to find out. Microsoft's Help files have taken me into
some very stange areas.
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Ooooohhhh, that makes sense. That's probably what Jean meant. Told you it was early. ;-)
Mmmm, but then you'd have to do some user research to figure out how and WHY people are using the software. If it's a commerical package, people are going to want to know everything the software does (maybe) because they bought it for themselves and are motivated (maybe) to learn about the software. If the software is part of a person's job, they're only going to want to know what they need to know to get their job done (maybe). So perhaps the problem of searching for info to find out if you can or can't do something wouldn't apply.....mmmm, but then you get into training issues.
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"And in the morning, I'm makin waffles." ~ Donkey
Sean Hower - tech writer http://hokum.freehomepage.com
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