Media: WinWriters tests Models of Web-based User Assistance

"A Usability Test of Web-based User Assistance" by Matthew Ellison describes how different help models proved more or less effective for users.

Recently, WinWriters used the web-based registration process for its annual Online Help Conference as a case study to test several models of user assistance for the Web. The results revealed what sort of questions and problems users have as they complete a web-based transaction, discovering how users respond to various forms of user assistance available within a web-based task and allowing the developers to refine the registration process for future conferences.

This detailed report, with nine sets of informative illustrations, makes for fascinating reading on the use of help systems.

In conclusion, they found:
* 'The participants who were informed at the start that they had to register each attendee separately performed significantly better than those who were not given this information. From this, we conclude that it's important to present certain key information up-front, before users start on a task.'

* The critical nature of domain information. Without it, participants struggled to complete the task, or even abandoned it completely if the domain information was not available. We therefore conclude that domain information (key concepts, definitions, rules, conventions, prices, etc.) is a vital element of user assistance for web applications, and is potentially more useful to users than procedural information.

* 'Participants did not appear to expect to find this domain information within an option labeled "Help". This suggests using a different wording for links to user assistance. One option is to use key words and phrases of existing text within the UI as links to the Help.'

* 'Users become more successful as they familiarized themselves with the task, and they also became more willing to use the Help when they realized it contained useful information. This leads us to conclude that, in cases when it is acceptable to learn through trial and error, an embedded Help system has less advantage.'

Associated Link: WinWriters: "A Usability Test of Web-based User Assistance"

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