Re: Usage of help pages

Jan,

>
> You might want to check the ACM Digital Library for any research articles
> on this subject. You can access the library after setting up a free account,
> even if you are not an ACM member. You will have some restrictions, however,
> if you are not a member.
>
> I began my life in high-tech as a technical writer at Microsoft and then
> went on to become a Help developer, even writing a book about it. Most
> studies I have seen say that people will usually ask someone they know how
> to do something before they will open the manual or help.
>
> I did a usability study for a large tech support site three years ago in
> which none of the 30+ participants looked for or opened the Help when they
> were having trouble completing a task.
>
> There is a strong movement, based on both anecdote and studies, towards
> making r assistance more accessible to people by embedding it into the
> interface of the page. A study reported in the STC  Technical Communication
> Journal by Trevor Gray showed a substantial increase in user success and
> satisfaction when the user assistance was embedded into the product/site
> interface. The article is free if you are a member of STC. If you are not,
> you could try a college or university library.
>

The Tech Comm Library at eserver.org has several articles on Help in Web
pages you might want to look at as well.
http://tc.eserver.org/tc.lasso?c1=searchable&-op=cn&cat=%22user+assistance%22+web


>
>
> On Dec 12, 2007 10:31 AM, Jan Alfbo < [email protected]> wrote:
> >
> > > Hi,
> >
> > > So my question is if someone knows the usage of help pages within
> > > different
> > > types of websites? How many percent of the visitors ends up using the
> > help
> > > pages and FAQ's?
> > >
> > > Many thanks for taking your time,
> > > Jan Alfbo
> > > Interaction Designer
> >
> >
> --
Mary Deaton
Deaton Interactive Design and SodaBlue Partners
Tools of the UX Trade - http://uxtools.blogspot.com

    --------------------------------------------------------------
    Tip of the Day: Quote only what you need from earlier postings
     CHI-WEB: www.sigchi.org/web POSTINGS: mailto:[email protected]
              MODERATORS: mailto:[email protected]
       SUBSCRIPTION CHANGES & FAQ:  www.sigchi.org/web/faq.html
    --------------------------------------------------------------