CMPUT 301: Lecture 27 Help and Documentation Martin Jagersand Department of Computing Science University of Alberta
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CMPUT 301: Lecture 27Help and Documentation
Martin Jagersand
Department of Computing ScienceUniversity of Alberta
2
User SupportCommon Fallacies
• “It’s so easy to use, you don’t need help.”– But GUI systems can also be complex
• Read the manual, it’s all in the manual– used by gurus to brush off questions they
consider trivial
• Read the source!– used when the manual doesn’t help
3
User SupportOther fallacies and problems
• Dumb warnings:– air conditioner
– Avoid dropping air conditioners out of windows.
– blow dryer– Do not use while sleeping.
– iron– Never iron clothes on the body.
– vacuum cleaner– Do not pick up anything that is burning.
4
User Support
• Dumb warnings:– Batman costume
– Cape does not enable user to fly.
5
User Support
• Main types of assistance:– quick reference
– mostly used as a reminder
– task-specific help– for achieving a task
– full explanation– for better understanding of the system
– tutorial– step-by-step example for new users
6
User Support
• Help– problem-oriented and specific– e.g., task-based instructions
• Documentation– system-oriented and generic– e.g., user interface snapshot
7
User Support
• Online support:– get help from the computer, assuming it is
running …– Command line text based: unix man, info,
matlab help.– Interrupt current command line interaction, (unless
starts in separate window)
– GUI based – Displayed concurrently with task.
8
Online Support
• Requirements:– availability
– access help at any time, at the same time
– accuracy and completeness– help should correctly cover the whole system
– consistency– different parts and types of help should be consistent with
each other on content, terminology, and style
9
Online Support
• Requirements:– robustness
– the help system should itself be reliable
– flexibility– present multiple levels of help
– unobtrusiveness– avoid intruding on the user
– MS paperclip?!?
10
Online Support
• Command assistance:– provide help at the command level– sometimes terse and obscure– assumes user knows what to look for– e.g., Unix man
11
Online Support
• Command prompts:– provide guidance on correct usage
12
Online Support
• Context-sensitive help:– present help that depends on the context instead
of only one entry point(e.g., specific user, system state, step in a task, object being pointed at, etc.)
13
Online Support
• Online tutorials:– allow the user to learn the basics of a system
within a special environment– e.g., system with some blocked functionality to
ease risk-free exploration
14
Online Support
• Online documentation:– put existing paper
documentation available on the computer
– could use hypertext techniques
15
Online Support
• Movies:
QuickTime™ and aVideo decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
16
Online Support
• Office assistants:
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Adaptive Help Systems
• What:– adapt the help system to the user
– similar to general adaptive user interfaces
– monitor user activity– e.g., preferences, mistakes, etc.
– build model of user
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Adaptive Help Systems
• Issues:– easier said than done– should the system actively initiate help?– will adaptivity confuse the user?– what are the knowledge requirements?
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Adaptive Help Systems
• User modeling:– every interactive system incorporates some
model of the intended user implicitly within its design
20
Adaptive Help Systems
• User modeling:– in some systems, the user can provide a model
around which the system will be configured– requires experience to customize the system
appropriately– e.g., Unix .profile and .cshrc
21
Adaptive Help Systems
• User modeling:– or automatically update a model of the user,
starting from a default model– Typically: Prompt for choices once (e.g. which
printer) then remember it.– Advanced: Associative content retrieval (MIT
project, EMACS demo available)
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Adaptive Help Systems
• Quantification:– define a number of levels of user expertise– place user on a level and continuously measure
expertise– expertise is scored based on the weights of
various actions– move user between levels at a certain threshold– adapt the help system accordingly
23
Adaptive Help Systems
• Issues:– initiative
– mix of user and system control
– system suggests hints about unused functionality
– user requests help as usual
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Adaptive Help Systems
• Issues:– effect
– how will the user model be used?
– to offer different help for novices and experts, may not need to record detailed sequences of user interaction
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Adaptive Help Systems
• Issues:– scope
– application wide or system wide
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User Support Systems
• Guidelines:– help should be designed as an integral part of the
system, not “bolted on”– usability principles also apply to help systems– help systems also need to be evaluated
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User Support Systems
• Presentation issues:– how is help requested?
– e.g., command, button, toggle, separate program
– how is help displayed?– e.g., new window, integrated frame, balloons
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User Support Systems
• Effective presentation:– clear, instructional language– consistent terminology– describe how to use the system
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End
• What did I learn today?
• What questions do I still have?
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