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Subject:Re: Opinions on Embedded Help? From:Lauren Merritt <laurenm -at- ISE-TLX -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 9 Mar 1999 09:51:34 -0700
<David Castro>
I'm including embedded help in the next release of the software I'm writing, and wanted to see what others on the list thought of this "new" idea. I'd like your general opinions on what you think of the idea, and also how you would answer the following specific question:
Should we give users an option to turn off embedded help, or should we keep it always there so that it's always giving them different things to read?
</David Castro>
Embedded help, when done well, is far superior to "What's This" style help. It actually gives the user more information than s/he could infer from screen elements themselves, something that "What's This" help doesn't manage. It's also more easily accessible.
However, the user should be the one to decide when the help pane is and is not visible.
Good luck, David. I'm a big fan of embedded help in general, and I know the software developers at my company are always singing its praises. (It's embedded into their development tool.)
