So far at newline we have not been writing manuals for web apps that we develop for our backoffice operation, somehow assuming that everything should be clear (and for the most part it was clear, for me - the developer). We recently launched NLCman - a brand new internal account management/CRM web app - and we naturally skipped documentation or training of the staff.
It turned out that nobody besides me and Oto knew how to use the app or knew about it's functionality and data that it contains. So I figured instead of trying to post a manual in our JotSpot Wiki I'll try to incorporate instructions and explanations directly into the user interface (screenshot below).
There is a few benefits for having instructions directly in the interface:
- You won't forget to update them when functionality changes, because they're constantly in front of you
- You eliminate the natural resistance to looking into a manual (who likes to read manuals?)
I am looking forward to hearing more "AHA's" in the office and less basic functionality-related questions.
3 comments so far
08 Apr 2006, Mike said:
While I agree that monolithic manuals, electronic or paper, are a thing of the past, I do not agree that all sorts of external documentation (or training) should be eliminated.
Contextual help can only go so far in educating the user about the functionality of a specific application; it is limited by the very fact that it is contextual help. Rather than encouraging a user to explore different parts of an application, the user is sort of ushered along; their education is limited to the context of their current task.
I believe this to be particularly true when dealing with a backoffice application like I presume NLCMan to be. Such applications are often intended to replace existing management processes but cannot effectively accomplish that objective if users are unaware of their capabilities.
In such a situation, perhaps a short training session or a brief release notes document should highlight the intent and capability of a new application. Contextual help would then certainly serve to guide a user along the proper path to achieving their objective.
In summary, I guess that a user first must understand what an application can accomplish before contextual help can really serve its purpose.
08 Apr 2006, Lukasz said:
Mike,
Yes, I agree that a training session is very useful. I should have mentioned that the NLCman was a replacement for a previous application with the same name and purpose but significantly less features.
Most of the staff was already aware of the purpose of the app, but was unaware of the processes behind some of the functions of the app. So the purpuse of the contextual help is really to resolve any ambiguities that a user may experience by looking at a screen or input form.
PLESK, a commercial web app we use, has no inline documentation. It has a help button on every page, that opens up a page in the manual. Unfortunately that manual is useless 99% of the time, because it simply reiterates what you already see on the screen. It’d be very helpful if PLESK provided more contextual explanations that would make it clearer what certain fields mean in some of their cryptic input forms.
09 Apr 2006, Oto said:
I agree with Mike. It is very important to have some sort of high level overview of the overall application functionality and clear definition of goals for individual modules. This can be accomplished by an introduction to the application that outlines the principles of the app’s usage.
However, I would go with Lukasz’s point that detailed descriptions within the manual are not necessary and actually useless in my opinion. The details can be nicely explained throught the contextual help on inidvidual screens within the app. This will guide the user through the individual steps of the app’s usage.
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