Five+ Ways to Add Interactivity to Online Help

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Nicky Bleiel

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Nicky Bleiel

STC Mid-Atlantic Conference9 March, 2012 1

Nicky BleielSenior Information DeveloperComponentOne

STC Mid-Atlantic Conference9 March, 2012

Biography — Nicky Bleiel• 17+ years of experience as a technical

communicator.

• Director, Society for Technical Communication.

• Written and designed documentation for softwareproducts in the documentation, media, industrialautomation, simulation, and pharmaceuticalindustries.

• Speaker at STC, WritersUA, tcworld, LavaCon, andCIDM on a variety of topics, including: embeddedhelp, tools and technologies, user assistancedesign, single sourcing, wikis, Web 2.0, Agile, andconvergence technical communication.

• Articles published in STC Intercom, tcworldmagazine, TechCom Manager, WritersUA website,and the Content Wrangler.

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What We Will Cover

• Discover the options available for interactivity.

• Discuss how they can improve readability andusability.

• Learn how to implement them in a singlesourcing environment.

What About the Wisdom of the Crowd?

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Notes About Online Help

• Many more options for delivery available.

• Browser-based Help makes more possible, butcan add interactivity to HTML Help also.

• ELearning encourages interactivity – Help is aform of Elearning.

• Help = website.

Considering InteractivityWill the user understand and expect therelevant action that occurs?

If content is hidden, will the user know how toaccess it?

Does the additional user input actually improvethe overall experience?

From: Bringing Interactivity To Your Website With Web Standardshttp://coding.smashingmagazine.com/2011/02/03/bringing-interactivity-to-your-website-with-web-standards/

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Expanding/Collapsing Text

Image Maps

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Glossary Popups

Google Maps<iframe width="425" height="350" frameborder="0"scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0"src="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&amp;source=s_q&amp;hl=en&amp;geocode=&amp;q=201+South+Highland+Avenue,+Pittsburgh,+PA&amp;aq=0&amp;oq=201+south+highland+avenue,+pittsburgh&amp;sll=37.0625,-95.677068&amp;sspn=34.450489,57.832031&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;hq=&amp;hnear=201+S+Highland+Ave,+Pittsburgh,+Pennsylvania+15206&amp;ll=40.458836,-79.924694&amp;spn=0.008082,0.014119&amp;t=m&amp;z=14&amp;iwloc=A&amp;output=embed"></iframe><br/><small><ahref="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&amp;source=embed&amp;hl=en&amp;geocode=&amp;q=201+South+Highland+Avenue,+Pittsburgh,+PA&amp;aq=0&amp;oq=201+south+highland+avenue,+pittsburgh&amp;sll=37.0625,-95.677068&amp;sspn=34.450489,57.832031&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;hq=&amp;hnear=201+S+Highland+Ave,+Pittsburgh,+Pennsylvania+15206&amp;ll=40.458836,-79.924694&amp;spn=0.008082,0.014119&amp;t=m&amp;z=14&amp;iwloc=A" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">ComponentOne on a Map</a></small>

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Twitter “Follow” Buttons

Twitter FeedsEmbed a Twitter widget <script charset="utf-8"

src="http://widgets.twimg.com/j/2/widget.js"></script><script>new TWTR.Widget({

version: 2,type: 'search',search: 'Doc-To-Help OR DocToHelp OR #DocToHelp',interval: 30000,title: '',subject: 'Follow Doc-To-Help on Twitter',width: 250,height: 300,theme: {

shell: {background: '#8ec1da',color: '#ffffff'

},tweets: {

background: '#ffffff',color: '#444444',links: '#1985b5'

}}, features: {

scrollbar: true,loop: true,live: true,behavior: 'default'

}}).render().start();</script>

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VideosAre great for visual learners, but also add interactivity.

Facebook Badges

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Email FeedbackAdding a simple email feedback mechanism iseasy.

Dos

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What we want to do…

• Make information readable

• Expose layers

• Encourage discovery

• Include useful information

Don’ts

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What we don’t want to do…

• Overdo the click count.

• Get seduced by eye candy.

• Mess with established standards.

Things to Consider• Remember accessibility.

• What about translation?

• Add analytics to browser-based help – get thestats.

• Security

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References/Fur ther ReadingInteractivity: A Forgotten Art? http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwitr/docs/interact/

Add Interactivity With Google Web Elements: http://www.web-hosting-newsletter.com/2009/05/29/add-interactivity-with-google-web-elements/

Formulas for Readability: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Readability

30 Ways to Improve Readability: http://www.problogdesign.com/blog-usability/30-ways-to-improve-readability/

5 Tips For Improving Readability On Your Website: http://spyrestudios.com/5-tips-for-improving-readability-on-your-website/

Bringing Interactivity To Your Website With Web Standards:http://coding.smashingmagazine.com/2011/02/03/bringing-interactivity-to-your-website-with-web-standards/

Progressive User Adoption: http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2009/03/progressive-user-adoption.php

Try It!• Google Maps: http://maps.google.com/

• Twitter widgets:http://twitter.com/about/resources/widgets/widget_search

• Twitter “follow” buttons:https://twitter.com/about/resources/buttons

• Facebook Badges:http://www.facebook.com/badges/page.php

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Questions?

Contact information:

Nicky BleielComponentOne

Pittsburgh, PA

nickyb@componentone.com

www.nickybleiel.com

www.doctohelp.com

Twitter: @nickybleiel

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