Chapter 8 - User Documentation

Abstract

This chapter discusses issues and approaches to the design of user documentation for a system. A broad view of documentation was presented, including information incorporated into the system, printed materials, and online help and references. User documentation is stored information about how to use a system. There are many forms of documentation and many purposes served by documentation. The most typical example is the traditional bound reference manual. But documentation also includes online help utilities, intelligent tutoring systems, and user forums. The main problem that defines or frames documentation design is that people interacting with software systems have a wide variety of information needs. People's attitudes about learning and the use of documentation are paradoxical. They want to produce high quality results, but often are unwilling or unable to use the documentation that could help them achieve their goals. Learning by doing increases people's motivation and their subsequent ability to apply what they have learned, but it makes the learning process more demanding. Putting documentation online gives readers more flexibility in access, but most people are more comfortable with paper and find it easier to read. Other users of a system are a valuable source of ongoing information and help. Intelligent tutors are developed by modeling and tracking a set of well defined tasks, whereas help agents are triggered by specific user or system events. Documentation design should be approached as a design problem on its own, with training or help scenarios developed and refined and prototypes built and iterated, in parallel with the design of the system as a whole.