March '96 Meeting Report

Designing Usable Help Systems
Speaker: Donna Timpone

by Craig Cardimon, Data Analyst
Knowledge Express Data Systems (Berwyn, Pennsylvania)

As the replacement speaker for Cheryl Lockett Zubak, Donna Timpone from UserEdge in Clinton, NJ, spoke about designing help systems at the March meeting held at Williamson's Restaurant in Horsham, PA.

Timpone explained that usability is the key issue in designing help systems, and usability audits should be conducted. In performing an audit, be sure to test users on the system prototype; conduct user focus groups; test users on the help prototype; talk to the help desk/training staff; take advantage of peer reviews and expert reviews; and conduct beta testing where possible.

There often isn't time to do all these things, however, because management wants the product out the door pronto. So Timpone suggested that, at the very least, help developers take advantage of research findings in the field of usability.

Summary of usability research

• Using help is a learned response. A bad experience with one help system spoils a user's experience with help in subsequent products. "Active" help is always preferred. This could take the form of wizards, coaches, decision trees, behavior tracking (which monitors the number of times you repeat an error and recommends a solution), error messages, and time bombs (which introduce advanced features at the right moment).

• Help is not generalizable from product to product. Users and tasks change. What works in one system won't necessarily work in another.

Dimensions of a good help system

A good help system should take into account how users will use the system when they have a problem. Using online help commonly involves the following processes:

• formulating a question
• accessing the help system
• selecting a help topic
• searching for relevant information
• extracting the answer
• understanding the information
• navigating to related help topics
• applying what they have learned

Usability issues, evaluation methods

The five core usablity issues are content, structure, writing style, screen design, and access techniques. These can be evaluated using expert reviews (open-ended assessments, automated assessments, ratings or checklists, and peer reviews) and end-user evaluations (beta testing and focus groups).

Selling usability testing to management

When persuading management to accept the idea of usability testing, first seek out a manager who will champion usability. Communicate that a positive response to the help system will help market the application and that a bad help system will waste money. Review case studies and your competitors' help systems.

Chapter news

• The 1996 Awards Banquet will be held at Williamson's on City Line Avenue April 18.

• The last meeting of this year will be held May 21.

• STC-PMC has several volunteer opportunities for the 1996-97 year: program speakers, program managers, publicity manager, contributors for the newsletter, and a managing editor for the newsletter.

Copyright 1996 STC Philadelphia Metro Chapter
The Meeting Reports editor is Emily Skarzenski.

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