atw: Re: Research on when customers need or want online help or manuals?
- From: LIVERANI Petra <Petra.LIVERANI@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2014 11:13:58 +1100
Hi Catherine,
Obviously, the better-designed the system, the less users need help. Sometimes,
some aspects of optimising design cost more but some don't. What amazes me is
how little effort goes into the design, when this stage really does not have to
cost so much. Aided by the book, Paper Prototyping, by Carolyn Snyder, I
created a simple paper prototype of a system we were building. (BTW, paper
prototypes are a very engaging tool; users find them really fun.) I tested it
on people who knew nothing about the system and was surprised at how they
didn't follow the prototype as I expected and were confused by things that
seemed obvious to me. The feedback resulted in a better design at very little
cost and the new design would not have cost more to implement - not that that
was the design ultimately used but that's another story. Jakob Nielsen talks
about how useful the "hallway usability" test is - that is, just grabbing
someone walking along and testing on them rather than paying thousands for
observing people through one-way mirrors etc. - although it does depend on what
you're building and sometimes very sophisticated usability is what's required.
My feeling (no data I'm afraid) is that what is very useful is the option to
look at help on particular functions without having to go anywhere - so a
question mark button (or similar) on fields that allows quick, prominent access
to help. I think an interesting statistic (from Jakob Nielsen) is that it is
expert users who turn to help more. This doesn't surprise me because I find
that as a confident software user I will spend a limited amount of time trying
to work something out for myself but then will quickly turn to google or a help
manual whereas users who are not so confident will tend to think it's too hard
and don't have confidence that Help will help them.
Regards,
Petra
Petra Liverani
Technical Writer / UX Designer
Transport Operations Systems
Transport Management Centre
Transport Services
Transport for NSW
T 02 8396 1617 | F 02 8396 7950 | M 0401 023 961
25 Garden St, Eveleigh NSW 2015
Use public transport... plan your trip at
transportnsw.info<http://www.transportnsw.info/>
________________________________
From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Catherine
Sent: Tuesday, 16 December 2014 7:11 AM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Re: Research on when customers need or want online help or
manuals?
Hi all,
I'm looking for some research that discusses when customers need or want a
manual or help file- especially for those dealing with financial systems. If
anyone has links for these, can you please share them?
I've already been looking at Jacob Nielsen's sites. What I'd like to see is any
empirical proof that we need Help or videos or manuals to aid in moving clients
through a complex system or a system that involves their money (or any system
where they are nervous and the stakes are high).
Thanks very much in advance!
p.s. I am usually a lurker on this list. I'm a Canadian tech writer with family
ties to Melbourne. At one time, I was hoping to move there but have not been
able to
I still enjoy your list though!
Sincerely,
Catherine Girczyc
Senior Technical Writer
Western Union Business Solutions
Vancouver, BC, Canada
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catherine.girczyc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:catherine.girczyc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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