Re: suggestions on how to "hide" UI-based topics in online Help TOC?

[Ned Bedinger <doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- com>]

Donna Barbieri wrote:
>  the Help system is 100% UI specific. Topics such as
> "using XYZ" really include information about what is
> on a particular screen.

The design you've inherited is nothing more than a systematic, linear, 
descriptive pass through each feature of each screen in the application.

> I have been tasked with creating "usable" Help for
> first time users AND with keeping the existing Help
> for a release in the next two weeks. 

Your task is to create task-oriented help topics, and also to spin (my 
word) the existing feature-based topics as something useful to your users.

> Since, apparently, this HAS to be there I'd like to
> minimize it's impact on users. 

The task-based prescription is normally good, so you've got the plan for 
how you'll minimize the impact of the original deficient design.

I am thinking of
> introducing the task-based topics as one normally
> would and then renaming all the existing topics and
> including them in a logical hierarchy.

If I guessed right, they already have the logic (each topic of each page).

<snip>

 > what should these "topics" be called I
> really want to steer away from "using XYZ Page" and
> was thinking "XYZ Options" "XYZ Page" "About XYZ"? Any
> suggestions?

You're going to have to switch hats and think about how to spin them as 
something that your users need or could use. IOW, sell them to the 
users. If you can discuss this with representatives of the users, great. 
  Otherwise, I think you'd want to do everything in your power to avoid 
casting them to the customers as hokey, ineffectual topics that you've 
bundled, for reasons of nepotism, with the real help.

So step back and look at the problem objectively. At the very least, the 
existing topics form a reference to everything in the UI. Right? Could 
they pass as a tutorial?

Ned Bedinger
doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- com
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