User Support Chapter 8

1. User SupportChapter 8

2. Overview • Assumption/IDEALLY: If a system is properly design, it should be completely of ease to use, thus user will require little or no help/training. • But: It is far from true even for the best-designed systems available.  • Thus, a helpful approach is to assume that … Users will require assistance at various times >> design HELP into system

3. Overview • Types of assistance >> varies and is dependent on many factors; • Their familiarity of the system • The job they are trying to do (and others..) • Basic requirements of assistance • available but unobtrusive • accurate and robust • consistent and flexible

4. Types of Support • Quick reference • Task specific help • Full explanation • Tutorial

5. Types of support • Quick reference • reminder of details; assumes familiarity & has used before • eg command syntax, options, etc. Usage: telnet [-8] [-#] [L] [-a] [-d] [-e char] [-l user] [-n tracefile] [-r] [host-name [port]] • Task specific help • addresses problems encountered with particular tasks • focused on what is currently being done

6. Types of Support • Full explanation • for more experienced and inquisitive (curious) users • likely to include information not needed now • E.g., Unix man command • Tutorial • aimed at new users • Provides step-by-step instruction (how to use tool)

7. Types of support • Four types are complementary • Required at different points based on user’s experience with the system and fulfill needs • What users want? Definitions, examples, known errors, error recovery information, command options, accelerators • What is the different btw help systems and documentation? • Help system: problem oriented & specific • Documentation: system oriented & generic

8. Requirements of User Support • Availability • Accuracy and Completeness • Consistency • Robustness • Flexibility • Unobtrusiveness

9. Requirements • Availability • accessible any time during system interaction • Accuracy and completeness • Must support the whole system accurately (updated) & completely (all parts) • Consistency • consistent in content, terminology and style of presentation

10. Requirements • Robustness • Help system itself should be robust (correct error handling and predictable behavior) • Users should be able to rely on getting assistance when required • Flexibility • Allow user to interact appropriate according to his needs • Unobtrusiveness • shouldn’t prevent user from continuing with normal work; not interfering with users’ system

11. Approaches to User Support • Command Assistance • Command Prompts • Context-Sensitive help • On-line tutorials • On-line documentation • Wizards • Assistants

13. Approaches to user support • Command assistance • Basic approach • User requests help on a particular command and is present with a help screen or manual page • E.g. UNIX man help system or DOS help command or Windows help • user must know what to look for; seeking reminder or detailed information

14. Approaches to user support • Command prompts • provide information when error occurs • good for syntactic errors • won’t tell you if you need a different command

15. Approaches to user support • Context sensitive help • Appears according to the context in which it is called, and will present help accordingly • depends on what user is doing • eg. completing a dialog, tool tip

16. Approaches to User Support • On-line tutorials • introduces user to components of system • User can progress at own speed, can repeat tutorial if needed • includes examples, automated demonstration • Have no intelligence – they know nothing about the user and their experiences. useful, but inflexible

17. Approaches to user support • On-line documentation • printed material in electronic form • Designed to provide full description of the system’s functionality and behavior in a systematic manner • E.g. readme files • continually available but can be difficult to browse • Thus, online documentation that uses hypertext allows it to be more accessible esp. for inexperienced users

18. Approaches to User Support • Wizards • task specific tool that leads user through task step-by-step, using information supplied by user in response to the questions given • User will answer ‘questions’ along the way • constraining - may not offer options, may request information that user does not have

19. Approaches to User Support • Assistants • Tools that monitor user behavior and offer suggestions or hints when they recognize familiar sequences • unobtrusive and under user control • ‘Clippy’ not unobtrusive, suggestions inappropriate

20. Intelligent- Type of Help: Adaptive Help Systems • Use knowledge of the user, task, domain and instruction to provide help adapted to user’s needs. • A class of interactive systems also known as intelligent systems. E.g., domain-specific expert systems, intelligent tutoring systems • How does it operate? By monitoring user’s activity and construct model of user (experience, preferences, mistakesor combination of some/all). With these info, the system will present help relevant to user’s current task and suit user’s experience.

21. Intelligent- Type of Help: Adaptive Help Systems • Sound fantastic! But, in practice, it is not as simple as it sounds. Why? • Problems: • Knowledge requirements considerable, but data on interaction are difficult to interpret • Issue of control - should it take an active role & remove some control from user? • What should be adapted? • What is scope of adaptation?

22. Designing User Support Systems • User support is not an ‘add on’ - it should be designed integrally with system. • Should concentrate on content and context of help rather than technological issues • Focus on two main issues: presentation issues and implementation issues

23. Designing User Support : Presentation issues • How is help requested? • Decision to be made – how the user will access help • Command • button • function (on/off) • separate application

24. Designing User Support : Presentation issues • How is help displayed? • Decision to be made - How user will view the help • New window • whole screen or split screen • pop-up box • hint icons

25. Designing User Support : Presentation issues • Effective presentation of help • Help screens and documentation should be designed similar to the interface designed – focus on effective writing and presentation • clear, familiar, consistent language • instructional rather than descriptive language • E.g., To close the window, click on the box in the top right-hand corner of the window NOT! (Windows can be closed by clicking on the box in the top right-hand corner of the window) • avoid of blocks of text (use logical sections) • Provide summary and example

26. Designing User Support : Implementation issues • Focus on implementation decisions – physical constraints • Is help – operating system command – meta command – application • Structure of help data – single file – file hierarchy – database

27. Designing User Support : Implementation issues • What resources are available? – screen space – memory capacity – speed • Issues – flexibility and extensibility – hard copy – browsing

28. Summary • Concerned with user support in the form of help and documentation • ‘Help’ should be an essential part of the system design • Users require different types of help, depending on context and circumstances, and the user support facilities should support. • Different style of help support different requirements and different types of users