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Subject:RE: Future of documentation in Web-based apps From:"Glenn Maxey" <glenn -dot- maxey -at- voyanttech -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 28 Jun 2001 17:23:27 -0600
The future for web-based applications and documentation will be
embedded, context-sensitive help.
Specifically, a fraction of the real-estate for the "dialog box" (or
webpage) will be partitioned off to display documentation. Let's say it
is always the right 1/3 of the screen (unless the user resizes it or
minimizes it).
There will be some icon, mouse-over mechanism, etc. in the application
2/3 of the screen that will control the documentation 1/3 to show a list
of topics relating to that the "active" item. Or maybe the documentation
1/3 just contains a list of topics relating to the items in the
application 2/3.
>From the list of topics, the user can bore down to get specific details.
The documentation 1/3 will have some navigation control at the top for
TOC, Index, page forward, page backward, back, and
documentation-minimize.
This was presented by a couple groups at the WinWriters conference.
Basically, if the information is helpful for the users and if the
interface has been designed for it, this sort of persistent in-your-face
online help doesn't bother the users. They'll use it when they need it
and will ignore it when they don't. Because it doesn't cover the
application area and is built in with it, it isn't bothersome.
There are various ways to implement with ASP etc. I think that the MSN
actually had some sort of Index thingy; the topic list was an index list
depending upon what was active. The user bored down from there and then
back-buttoned out if it wasn't helpful, in addition to TOC buttons, etc.
Glenn Maxey
Voyant Technologies, Inc.
Tel. +1 303.223.5164
Fax. +1 303.223.5275
glenn -dot- maxey -at- voyanttech -dot- com
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kathryn Scoffield [mailto:kscoffield -at- hotmail -dot- com]
> Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2001 4:39 PM
> To: TECHWR-L
> Subject: Future of documentation in Web-based apps
>
> My boss has asked me to research the future of documentation
> in web-based
> apps. Our director has mentioned future apps that use
> "easy-to-use browser
> based screens that users will not need guides for."
>
> For those who work in web-based usability, are there such
> screens? Perhaps
> there's a method of interface design we're not aware of?
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