Group Members1. Muzamil Altaf2. M.Arqam Awais3. Basit Riaz4. Muhammad Aslam5. MuhammadAfshan

Issues different types of support at different times implementation and presentation both important all need careful design

Types of user support quick reference: Quick reference is used primarily as a reminder to

the user of the details of tools he is basically familiar with and has used before. It may,for example, be used to find a particular command option, or to remind the user of the syntax of the command.

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– task specific help: Task-specific help is required when the user has encountered a problem in performing a particular task or when he is uncertain how to apply the tool to his particular problem.

– full explanation: The more experienced or inquisitive user may require a full explanation of a tool or command to enable him to understand it more fully. This explanation will almost certainly include information that the user does not need at that time.

– tutorial: The fourth type of support required by users is tutorial help. This is particularly aimed at new users of a tool and provides step-by-step instruction (perhaps by working through examples) of how to use the tool.

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• Provided by help and documentation– help - problem-oriented and specific– documentation - system-oriented and general– same design principles apply to both

Requirements• Availability

– continuous access concurrent to main application• Accuracy and completeness

– help matches and covers actual system behaviour

Consistency between different parts of the help system and paper

documentation Robustness

correct error handling and predictable behaviour Flexibility

allows user to interact in a way appropriate to experience and task

Unobtrusiveness does not prevent the user continuing with work

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Command assistance User requests help on particular command

e.g., UNIX man, DOS help Good for quick reference Assumes user knows what to look for

Command prompts Provide information about correct usage when an error

occurs Good for simple syntactic errors Also assumes knowledge of the command

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8In unix we’d use “man –k” to find commands related to a keyword

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The system should offer help on correct syntax when a user gets the command syntax incorrect

In WIMP systems, the menus provide a degree of command prompting and error avoidance First, the menus (and toolbars/buttons) identify available

commands Second, the parameters of a command are set out by the

dialog of the command itself Third, any file parameters can usually be achieved by

browsing to a file

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A GUI can prevent overt syntax errors through the dialog structure

Of course,this doesn’tmean theusers can’tstill makeerrors in thesense of notachieving whatthey wanted(and possiblynot knowingthat they don’thave what theywanted)

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Context sensitive help help request interpreted according to context in which it

occurs. e.g. tooltips On-line tutorials

user works through basics of application in a test environment

can be useful but are often inflexible On-line documentation

paper documentation is made available on computer continually available in common medium can be difficult to browse hypertext used to support browsing

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wizards task specific tool leads the user through task, step by step, using

user’s answers to specific questions Most often seen for installation procedures

useful for safe completion of complex or infrequent tasks constrained task execution so limited flexibility must allow user to go back

assistants monitor user behaviour and offer contextual advice must be under user control e.g. XP smart tags

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Let you know the system has a series of options available with respect to the most recent action (e.g., after Edit Paste)