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Creating an Online Help System for Logical Ink

Creating an Online Help System for Logical Ink. Peggy Harvey ENG 675 April 20, 2010. Agenda. Background Problem Initial Concerns Decisions and Challenges Result What’s Next. Background. Logical Progression is a start-up company that provides tablet-based software solutions

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Creating an Online Help System for Logical Ink

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  1. Creating an Online Help System for Logical Ink Peggy Harvey ENG 675 April 20, 2010

  2. Agenda • Background • Problem • Initial Concerns • Decisions and Challenges • Result • What’s Next

  3. Background • Logical Progression is a start-up company that provides tablet-based software solutions • Logical Ink is an electronic charting solution for healthcare

  4. Problem • Provide documentation for the new version of Logical Ink Server • Prior versions were configured by Logical Progression staff • New version is a Web portal intended to give end users access to the server backend • Help system integrated into product more likely to be used by audience

  5. Initial Concerns • I’m not a Logical Progression employee. • I’m not regularly on site. • Disconnect between the Logical Ink Server development schedule and my ENG 675 deadlines.

  6. Initial Concerns Alleviated • Chris was very supportive of my project and wanted me to succeed. • Chris provided information whenever I needed it. • For ENG 675, I developed the Help system completely from the product specification.

  7. What… • Type of Help system? • Level of quality? • Design elements? • Navigation elements? • Content to include or exclude?

  8. Decisions • Help system: HTML Help • Quality: Basic, version 1.0 (ENG 518) • Design: Simple (ENG 517, ENG 508) • Navigation: Cross-references, hyperlinks, index

  9. Content • Focus on what users need (ENG 512) • Usable, useful content (ENG 508) • Task-centered, minimalist approach based on user scenarios (ENG 518) • Effective information architecture (ENG 518) • Consistency to accommodate non-linear format

  10. Challenge: No Usability Studies • How much contextual information do users need? • What level of detail should be included? • What kind of information are users looking for?

  11. How… • Creating a Help system requires authoring tools • Incorporate best practices • Wanted to use a long-term, maintainable process

  12. Challenge #1: No Precedent • Effectively building a tech comm department on my own • Had to develop the entire documentation process from the ground up

  13. DITA – Darwin Information Typing Architecture • XML architecture • “Chunks” information into individual topics • Single-sourcing • Reuse • Human-readable files

  14. Challenge #2: DITA • DITA is complicated and very difficult to learn on your own • Didn’t know where to start • Tried to learn Structured FrameMaker interface at same time • Eventually ran out of time

  15. Challenge #3: Tools • After DITA failed, still had learning curve with backup solution • Needed to re-teach myself FrameMaker • Dealt with technological issues as they came

  16. Result • Working, functional Help system based on the product specification • Lack of user data means Help system 1.0 is in effect a test system

  17. What’s Next? • Match Help system to the actual product • Add context-sensitive hooks • Usability testing on product and documentation • Hand-off of source files to Logical Progression

  18. Thank You

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