Offering help on demand and in context.

November 6th, 2006

It has been noted that the help components associated with online applications suffer from several weaknesses. With the widening breadth of contexts in which online application are used, a need to rethink the way help and support are provided grows vital.

Current help paradigms are based on manuals usually separated from the application, requiring users to consult them independently despite being mostly in digital format. Dynamic help on the other hand, such as Microsoft agents, has been found to disturb the users due to its intrusive nature.

Several research works have identified pro-active approaches to provide new users with the support they require without substantially raising the overhead on the development process of online applications. The basis of such trend is to both provide support upon the user’s request, and to accord it in the context of the application itself.

This is done by dynamically linking the help component with the application in order to deduce the context from which support is being requested. In turn, the support is dynamically provided through digital annotations mined from the digital manuals. Arrows and signs are overlaid on the application’s interface to anchor each annotation in the vicinity of the functionality it targets. The annotations are also arranges in consecutive steps and can follow-up with the user as s/he progresses through the application’s process.

Entry Filed under: General