Over the weekend, Dr Chris Atherton suggested I look at “the doorway effect”. You may well have experienced walking through a doorway and then finding you’d forgotten why you’d stood up in the first place. Researchers at the University of Notre Dame have discovered your brain is not to blame for your confusion about what you’re doing in… Read more »
Category: online Help
Measuring the value of Help in desktop applications
One of the challenges for Technical Authors is quantifying the value of what they produce. For example, how can you tell how many people are reading online Help when the software is installed on someone’s desktop computer? One application mentioned in passing as last week’s UAEurope conference, ApplicationMetrics, might be able to provide the answer. ApplicationMetrics… Read more »
Towards Flow-Based User Assistance
Flow theory is a psychological concept that is gaining interest in e-learning. It is a concept that should be also considered in the fields of User Assistance and Technical Communication. Flow is akin to sportsmen being “in the zone” – flow is the situation where people are happiest when they are completely engaged in a task. Online Help… Read more »
How software users become champions
Matthew Syed is a British sports journalist and former three times Commonwealth Games gold medallist, who has been investigating what is needed to make people excellent at doing any task involving complexity. He argues that natural talent, your genes, are far less important than many people think. What’s important is practising what you can’t quite do…. Read more »
What other technologies do Technical Authors and developers use from 1997?
Did you know the compiled Microsoft HTML Help format was launched back in 1997? In 1997, you’d be using Windows 98 and Internet Explorer 4. Microsoft was buying a $150 million share of a financially troubled Apple Computer, and the first colour photograph appeared on the front page of the New York Times. Almost 15… Read more »