Many years ago I worked as a temp in a psychiatrist's office. His patients included some of New York's elite, some who merely thought they were elite, and some from whom we had to hide sharp instruments. (Of course, I didn't find that out until the birthday cake knife was already missing, but that's another story.) Anyway, one day a lady called for an appointment. Unbeknownst to me, this particularly lady had booked appointments on multiple occasions, only to call again a few days later and cancel them. So I booked the appointment for her, and when the psychiatrist saw her name on his schedule he called me into his office and read me the riot act. The conversation went something like this:
"I don't want you to book any more appointments with her."
"Why?"
"Because she's crazy!"
"You're a psychiatrist! All your patients are crazy!"
Before you point out the obvious, let me assure you that I know that many people who see psychiatrists are not really "crazy," and it is not a word I would choose to describe patients today. But I was very young at the time, and totally incredulous. Which brings me to my next point.
On occasion I have had the opportunity of asking end users if they find our Help useful. On more than one occasion, the conversation has gone like this:
"Do you use the online Help?"
"No, not often"
"Why?"
"Because, there are too many words!"
Now I don't know how you write help without using words, but I can appreciate the sheer volume and sensory overload when you open some (not all) of our Help topics. So I decided to take an objective look at some of my Help topics, and see if I could do away with lots of words, without impacting the information that was really needed. Looking around for a likely candidate, I decided it was time for an overhaul of my Domino Web Access Help.
I really like Domino Web Access. It is a quick way to get to your Notes mail and calendar using a browser. And now that there is a new Lite mode (introduced in Notes 8.0.1), it is a really quick way to stay in touch on the road, without being bogged down by the full feature set you might need in your permanent office. Unfortunately, as the Full mode of Domino Web Access has grown and added features over the years, so has the Help. And now it does indeed appear that there are "too many words."
So I am reorganizing and reconstructing the Domino Web Access Help to provide users with a more streamlined set of topics that include some (but not a lot) overview information, a set of task topics that address the most frequently used tasks, and a set of frequently asked questions. Then, just for good measure I plan to throw in some reference topics (sort of like reference cards only in a Help topic). The end result, I hope, will be a new streamlined Help that provides a easy-to-find source of information--without using too many words.
Dana St. Clair | 28 March 2008 11:50:59 AM ET | | Comments (0)
