Design: User Assistance Design

Users expect today’s advanced user-assistance platforms to deliver the most relevant information from multiple sources—and want to get that information quickly. Thus, we’re seeing the rapid adoption of social user assistance. Through user forums and online communities and social-media platforms such as Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube, user-assistance platforms can provide relevant information to a diverse audience with differing needs.

This article defines the capabilities of social user assistance, describes the evolution of user assistance and shows how social user assistance has become an integral part of technical communication and the overall user experience, outlines some available sources of social user assistance, and describes the benefits of social user assistance. Read More

UX writing involves designing copy for user-interface (UI) elements that users employ in interacting with applications. This copy includes labels for menu items, commands, buttons, and form controls; error-message text, alert text, and other instructional text.

To ensure a good user experience, it is essential to design user-interface text to be accessible to users with different abilities, regardless of how users navigate the software—whether using speech, keyboard, or mouse device—or if users have color-deficient vision. UX writing must serve all types of users and help them interact with a user interface successfully. In this article, we’ll provide some guidelines for effective UX writing. Read More

Picture this scenario: You are using an application to work on a time-critical project, and suddenly, you are stuck for want of information about a particular screen. Time is running out. You reach for the application’s documentation and spend a few minutes trying to figure out what to do next. Thankfully, you are quickly able to locate the relevant information and continue with your work. You are pleased with the documentation and praise the unknown writer.

In this case, the application’s documentation served your needs well. How did the writer of your application’s documentation know how to meet your needs? The most likely answer would point to the effective application and use of personas. Read More