Re: Help vision

["Nuckols, Kenneth M" <Kenneth -dot- Nuckols -at- mybrighthouse -dot- com>]

ALL: I hope this doesn't go through twice--Listserv said I had to delete
some footer info and try again. Mea culpa...

Andy,

The software and hardware sides of the computer industry are driven by
one segment and one segment only:  computer games. Game developers and
game players alike demand more, better, faster, louder, brighter and
better performance, graphics, sound, realism, "...life, the universe and
everything."

So why not look to them as a model of online help as well? Recently I
had a birthday and two different friends gave me two of the newer video
games. These are both of the Massively Multiplayer Online variety
(meaning you have to be connected to a live server owned by the game
company to play and that you continually interact with both elements of
the game environment and other players as well).

First I was amazed by the graphic detail of the games, but I quickly
noticed the way the help system of both games is so proactive. One game
begins with a half-hour tutorial that seems like an ocean voyage.
Voiceover narration and on-screen cues (such as flashing buttons and
luminous "paths") lead you from one part of the ship to another and
introduce various elements that help you figure out how to play the
game.

By the time you finish this opening sequence, you pretty much know the
basics of playing the game. Upon reaching the voyage destination,
however, I learned that the proactive help doesn't end just yet. Each
time you come across some new type of feature in the game, a voiceover
narration and subtle pop-ups help you figure out how to navigate and
complete the task, quest, or whatever it is you're trying to do.

And--just in case you're wondering--once you've done this with your
initial in-game character or avatar, you have the option to disable the
tutorial when starting additional in-game characters.

The other game's help system is not quite so elaborate, but it does have
tiny popup icons located at the bottom of the screen that appear each
time you encounter a new type of event, task, quest, or encounter.
Clicking these icons brings up a help bubble that guides you through the
task.

To supplement this help system that really becomes part of the game
environment, there is an extensive knowledge base of help (probably
XML-based though I'm not certain) available, as well as the ability to
log inquiries for items you cannot find in the help system.

Now is it so crazy or outlandish to envision this as the model for
online help in productivity software of the future? After all, the high
school and college kids that are spending sleepless nights battling CGI
critters and eluding onscreen aliens today are going to be the next
generation's developers, programmers and documentation professionals.
What they're learning about programming and development today from
playing and analyzing games such as these is probably going to influence
the look and feel of software and online help they develop--and demand
from the software they use--in the future.

It's true that this really takes us beyond the field of "documentation"
as most of us think of that term. However, our field is increasingly
becoming one of "Technical Communications" so does it matter whether our
help system is a printed book, an online database or a proactive
intra-environmental system that anticipates the user's need and offers
guided procedures and voiceover narration to help them learn the task
they need to accomplish?

-----Original Message-----
From: bounce-techwr-l-219327 -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:bounce-techwr-l-219327 -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Andy
McAleer
Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2005 10:00 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Help vision


Does anyone have a vision, however sketchy, of the future of online
help? I'm particularly interested in answering the following questions,
but don't let them limit you. I'm trying to build up a picture of what
help will look like in the next few years, and how we, as technical
writers, will have to respond.

I'm thinking particularly of my own circumstances: As part of a big
software house, I'm creating user assistance for applications that are
accessed by many users in large enterprises.

Those questions:

1. Are big software houses going to continue to post more of their help
topics online (thereby making updated help always available to users)?
Obviously, the web's used to publish standalone documents, but how
popular is it for serving help topics in real time? Is this a trend
that's likely to coninue? 
2. Do the promises of such server-based help actually bear fruit? I
mean, is the information you get from posting help on servers really
useful. (In theory, you can tell which topics are most often accessed.)
Do companies really make use of this form of user feedback?
3. Following on from 2, how easy is it to use Macromedia's server-based
help authoring tools and processes? I'm thinking of RoboEngine and any
other required tools.
4. Does RoboEngine have a future if Macromedia are no longer committed
to a lifecyle plan for this product? (I think I've got that right.)
5. Are technical writers actively researching the impact of Microsoft's
vision for help, as documented for the next release of their operating
system, codenamed Longhorn? Maybe you are researching other visions.
Care to share?
6. What will Longhorn mean for technical writers? Would a fair summary
be that -- if Longhorn help catches on -- we'll be working closer with
developers to integrate user assistance in the UI, and we'll also be
editing XML (presumably using some new tool to make life easier)?
7. Is help going to be replaced by some other way of communicating with
users?

I'd be really interested in hearing from anyone with views on this
subject.

Andy McAleer
Citrix Systems UK Ltd.
Gerrards Cross
United Kingdom

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