Right! And also not unique to Help.
More generally, these are all means
for identifying THE relevant bit of content and presenting it, and any other
such means that can be imagined and implemented can be "optional
characteristics" of Help. That rather vitiates the notion "optional
characteristic". Google's search algorithms (and underlying them their intensive
statistical analyses of huge bodies of content) would be very
Helpful.
The ToC can in addition be a high-level
overview of the structure of a subject matter. Other presentations, such as a
radial tree or a 'mind-map' sort of graph can also serve this
function.
From: Goolsby, Chris [mailto:]
Sent: Friday, January 21, 2011 2:12 PM
To: Bruce Nevin
(bnevin);
Subject: RE:
[dita-adoption-help] definition of Help
Do
we want to address search at all? You talk about ToC and Index. Maybe search
is an optional characteristic?
Chris
Goolsby
PTC-Arbortext
From: Bruce Nevin
(bnevin) [mailto:]
Sent: Friday, January 21, 2011
12:47 PM
To:
Subject: RE:
[dita-adoption-help] definition of Help
Right, modular is an ambiguous term, and inspecific.
>> May help with a user domain separate from its software
vehicle.<<
Do you mean that Online Help doesn’t have to be associated with a
piece of software? Or do you mean that some content in a software’s Help
might describe indirectly-associated concepts, business rules and the
like?
I meant the latter, e.g. a museum exhibit. Guidance for conflict of
interest, insider trading, and the like might be examples of business rules.
I'm sure you had other examples in mind, what are they?
Here's another take which I think addresses your
points.
_____________________________________________________________
What is Online Help?
Essential characteristics:
It is user-assistance documentation.
It is presented by a computer.
Each topic is presented separately. (Like a website.)
In-topic links support navigation to other topics. (Like a
website.)
A ToC, if provided, links to topics. (Unlike that in a
book.)
An Index, if provided, links to topics. (Unlike that in a
book.)
Optional characteristics:
It documents a software product.
It is integrated with the UI of that product.
Parts of the UI may be linked to topics written about them.
(Embedded help.)
Procedural steps may be linked to parts of the UI used to execute
them. (Online coach.)
Ancillary considerations:
The location of the content (e.g. local disk, website, cloud) is
immaterial.
The type of display (e.g. CLI, GUI, kiosk, audio, video, mixed
media) may constrain the content.
From: Tony Self
[mailto:]
Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2011
8:44 PM
To: Bruce Nevin (bnevin);
Subject: RE:
[dita-adoption-help] definition of Help
Hi Bruce
Here are some thoughts.
>> Modular--relatively short topics<<
Modular might not be the right term to use, because “modular
Help” is used commonly to describe multiple Help systems that are merged at
runtime to be delivered as a virtual single Help
system.
>> May help with a user domain separate from its software
vehicle.<<
Do you mean that Online Help doesn’t have to be associated with a
piece of software? Or do you mean that some content in a software’s Help
might describe indirectly-associated concepts, business rules and the
like?
I think we also need to define “online”.
Regards
Tony Self
From: Bruce Nevin
(bnevin) [mailto:]
Sent: Friday, 21 January 2011
8:43 AM
To:
Subject:
[dita-adoption-help] definition of Help
I see http://wiki.oasis-open.org/dita-adoption/DITA_Help_Technologies_Guide_Allocation
that I am on the hook for a definition of Help. Here's a quick draft for
comment.
What is Online Help?
User assistance documentation.
Modular--relatively short topics, in some forms (e.g. rollover)
smaller than a topic.
Delivered online by software, either locally or on the
web.
Usually integrated with the UI of the software that it
documents.
May help with a user domain separate from its software
vehicle.
Is a kiosk or a guide to an exhibit online
Help?
May be context sensitive (linked to user action or
location or the state of the application).
These characteristics usually compel the Help developer to
address the problem of relevance that is central to all documentation:
access to the relevant topic from the context of need.
All user assistance documentation is part of the user interface;
a Help system only more obviously so.
/B
