Category Archives: Software

Popcorn Maker – “freeing Web videos from the little black box”

Posted on by
Reply

Mozilla has released Version 1 of Popcorn Maker, a free HTML5 Web application that enables you to create videos that interact with images, text, maps and other media.

This means you are able to add live content to a video. For example, if you have a video telling a user how to purchase an item, you could include details on the specific item they want to purchase, within the video.

Popcorn Maker

Version 1 of Popcorn Maker offers basic functionality. More advanced functionality (such as synchronising a text transcript with a video) is also available via a JavaScript framework.

Mozilla is promoting this as a tool for video makers, but it offers new capabilities to those involved in corporate training, support and user assistance.

In the upcoming weeks, Cherryleaf be advising our clients how they can use the technology in their training videos and screencasts.

See also: Screencast, eLearning and animated tutorial development services

Reducing app abandonment

Posted on by
Reply

app abandonment - app store imageAt the UAEurope 12 conference, SAP’s Keren Okman quoted a shocking statistic: that the average mobile or tablet app* is used an average of just 3-4 times by a user.

The issue of “app abandonment” is one that is likely to be of greater concern for software developers in the future, as they invest ever increasing amounts of time and money into developing apps for tablets and mobile devices.

Keren said SAP’s response has been to get their Technical Authors involved in writing the product descriptions displayed in app stores. This is the information people read before deciding to purchase. They plan to rewrite these descriptions and provide more guidance on how to use the produce before customers get started.

In the same way that developers are now considering a “mobile first” strategy when they develop new software and web sites, we may be seeing the beginnings of a “Help first” strategy as well.

A “Help first” strategy is where developers abandon the belief in the totally intuitive app (one that sells itself, requires no online Help and only needs limited support) and recognises the limitations of mobile operating systems require Help/User Assistance to be designed into the application from the very outset of the project planning.

To prove this, developers can use A/B testing to reduce app abandonment and evaluate how much User Assistance is needed.

Unfortunately, if app developers leave the planning for Help to the end, then their app has probably already failed.

*App is a term used for software applications for mobile and tablet devices.

Why Technical Authors make the best Project Managers for Agile projects

Posted on by
Reply

Red Gate Software’s Dominic Smith mentioned in his presentation at UAEurope conference that the company had found Technical Authors were ideally suited to take on the role of Project Manager for small Agile software development projects. In fact, Red Gate had morphed most of its Technical Authors into to a hybrid Project Manager role.

Dominic made a strong case why Technical Authors made good Agile software project managers:

  • They are focused on the user
  • They understand the user
  • They understand a lot of the technological aspects
  • They are used to delivering projects on time
  • They are more extravert and people-orientated than programmers (yes, this is broad generalisation)
  • They ensure User Assistance isn’t forgotten in the project plan, and that it is considered from the very start
  • They can provide a business focus to the project, and are able to kill projects that don’t make business sense any more.

Do you agree?

Disclosure: Red Gate is a client of ours.

New software that might interest Technical Authors

Posted on by
1

Here are some new tools we’ve found that might interest Technical Authors.

Google Ripples

Google Ripples is a tool that enables you to watch how posts get shared on Google+. If you publish user assistance or support information via Google+, it could help you track how far and wide it gets distributed. It could also help you see who are the most influential people, when it comes to transmitting a message.

Anthologize

Anthologize is a free, WordPress plugin that enables you to publish the content as electronic texts.

Grab posts from your WordPress blog, import feeds from external sites, or create new content directly within Anthologize. Then outline, order, and edit your work, crafting it into a single volume for export in several formats, including—in this release—PDF, ePUB, TEI.

QR Tags – coming to your local Technical Author soon

Posted on by
Reply

We have been talking about the potential for using QR Tags since 2009, so it is great to see that MadCap Software has announced Flare version 7 will include QR Tag capabilities.

MadCap states:

In an online and searchable document, it is easy to include hyperlinks, URLs, etc., for users to access more information, but how do you enable this from a print document? With QR codes, authors can empower their users in ways never before possible, by giving them access to more relevant, actionable and up to date content wherever and whenever they need it, directly from any print document.

  1. Instead of creating a large manual with hundreds of pages, create a Quick Start guide with fewer pages. At the bottom of each page, step, topic, or procedure, add a QR code that allows users to access more detailed information online.
  2. For users out in the field that need access to updated information, include codes in printed manuals that direct them to the needed content in your Help system.
  3. You have a printed procedures manual with QR codes that, when scanned, link to movies showing the procedures in action.
  4. For external communication, include a QR code at the bottom of a document that takes them straight to a website where they can purchase a particular part or product.

Making predictions is a risky business – it’s possible to look back at our posts and see if our predictions have been spot on or widely off the mark. We believe it gives prospective clients some assurance we know what we’re talking about.

It’s a learning process. Do tell us if you agree or disagree with any of our predictions or if you think we’ve missed a trend.

Managing a documentation project – a guide (and a test of Camtasia)

Posted on by
Reply

This a short video overview of managing a documentation project. It’s something we put together as a test of some of the functionality of Techsmith’s Camtasia software.

Google Chrome OS Help – What will it be like?

Posted on by
1

Techcrunch has reported on an early glimpse of Google’s upcoming Operating System, Chrome OS. So, you are no doubt asking, will Chrome OS come with online Help? Will it be initiated in a similar way to Help in Windows or by some sort of new means?

From the screen shots on the Techcrunch site, it appears, yes,  there will be online Help. It will be initiated by clicking on a ? button in the top right hand corner. In short, it appears Google will be sticking to standard User Interface conventions. What’s unclear is whether the Help pages will be stored locally on the machine or “in the cloud”.

Google Wave – A case study in 21st Century User Assistance

Posted on by
1

Google’s latest product, Google Wave, provides a case study in how User Assistance is sometimes provided to users for popular Web-based applications. It is a useful case study, because:

  1. The application contains unfamiliar concepts and tasks;
  2. Google hopes it will be used by many people; and
  3. It’s from a major provider of software.

While the application clearly works (although there is some uncertainty as to whether some behaviours are “features” or bugs), this unfamiliarity means that users could give up and reject the application.

We need to bear in mind the application is currently available in “limited preview”, to an initial tranche of people. So what can we discover?

1. A lot of user assistance provided so far seems to be promoted towards “innovators”. The information is aimed at providing an overview of the application and outlining the key concepts. So are users are left to work out how to do carry out tasks for themselves? Is it assumed they are technically clever, motivated and interested enough to work a lot out for themselves?

This may not be a bad thing. Indeed, a phased documentation approach was recommended by IBM’s Mike Hughes PhD. at the UA Conference Europe 09.

The most frequently found User Assistance services that have been provided by Google are:

There is currently no comic-style guide, such as that provided by Google for Google Chrome.

2. There is User Assistance for end users. Surprisingly, judging by the articles written by users, very few people are referring to Google’s “Google Wave Help“. Is this because:

  1. Few people know about this?
  2. It’s not very good?
  3. People don’t/won’t use Help?

We don’t have one of those early invitations to use Google Wave, so it’s unclear to us whether the application steers users to the Help.  (see Update below) The Help itself provides short, clear instructions on how to carry out the main tasks. However, it’s almost exclusively text based, with no means to comment on the information. What’s more, it doesn’t really interlink with the other information sources that Google has developed.

3. Additional User Assistance has been created by users, journalists and third party providers. Searching Google for “Google Wave” provides links to 12,500,000 articles and ‘”Google Wave Help” 26,200 articles. The third party information appears to be aimed more at end users and comprises mostly:

Many are in the form of Blog articles containing hundreds of comments.

There also currently 499 Google Wave videos on YouTube – these are mostly user overviews.

4. Using Google to ask questions such as “how do I manage a Google wave” provides you with links to Google Wave Help (which answers the questions) and some third party articles (which don’t). However, asking “How do I create a Google wave” does not provide a link to a useful answer on the first page of the search results.

5. All the User Assistance provided by Google appears to be in English only. Searching for “Google Wave Hilfe” (“Google Wave Help” in German) provides no meaningful links.

6. UPDATE. We now have access to the application itself. Within the application, users are provided with a form of embedded Help – an intial Wave that includes a 2 minute “getting started” video (by ”Doctor Wave”) and links to waves with more information:

  • Getting started with Google Wave
    “This is a wave with quick tips on the basics of using Google Wave, including some how-to videos.” The document is a read-only wave, so it behave just like classic online Help, albeit containing a lot of animated tutorials. What’s strange is that it seems to contain different information to the Web-based Google Wave Help pages.
  • When to use Google Wave
    “Explore example waves and watch a video (8 min) to see how you can use Google Wave with friends and colleagues.” Again,  this is very Help like, it contains a talking heads video and it seems to contain different information to the Web-based Google Wave Help pages. 
  • Google Wave extensions
    “Install extensions to Google Wave to bring rich content into your waves and integrate with other systems.”

There is also a “Help” link button at the top of the screen. This links users to the Google Wave Help pages.

Conclusion

It’s too early to form any firm conclusions, and we need to keep asking questions and observe:

  • Will Google provide additional User Assistance over time?
  • What other user assistance will emerge, and from where?
  • Will Google Wave be a success or not?

However, one thing seems to be clear: Today, users will need to devote considerable time to finding and reading the lengthy videos, articles and conversations that exist around using Google Wave.