RE: Another Newbie question about procedures

Subject: RE: Another Newbie question about procedures
From: "Bonnie Granat" <bgranat -at- granatedit -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Sun, 15 May 2005 21:39:34 -0400




>
> When I teach, I talk about Task Flows. It's the idea that you
> need to walk
> your user thru the steps to do what they need and only the
> steps that the
> user needs to complete that task. If there are other things
> that CAN be
> done, in a dialog box for example, you ignore them because
> they are not
> related to the current task path.
>
> Thus, I wouldn't tell the user what the Cancel button does,
> as it does not
> move them forward thru to the end of the task.

But what if they get stuck and want to start over, or they have to
stop for some reason. I think it's absolutely necessary to tell
them how to back out.

I agree that users don't need to know about things that aren't part
of the task they want to accomplish, but certainly they need and
deserve to know how to back out of a procedure.


However, I
> would tell them to
> click OK to finish the task, simply because I think users
> expect to be done
> with the steps and the procedure at the same time.
>
> Having said that, Microsoft, in the 3rd edition style guide
> for tech pubs,
> says to not bother with the Click OK thing. I would like to see
some
> usability stuff on this. Does it confuse users or doesn't it?

You don't just DO it without preparing your users. Your manual
should have a simple section called How to Use This Guide or About
This Guide in which you explain housekeeping things.

There's a compromise that involves putting ", and then click OK."
at the tail end of the last step or as a separate sentence there.


Bonnie Granat | www.GranatEdit.com
bgranat -at- granatedit -dot- com
Cambridge, Massachusetts, US



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References:
RE: Another Newbie question about procedures: From: Sharon Burton

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