In a perfect world, everything in this article would be true. The problem is, there is no perfect world.
As such, this means that while the large percentage of people accessing online help are looking for that 30-second answer to their question; there is also a part of the audience that only have the help file to learn about the application and to guide them in getting started using it.
The reasons for this vary, sometimes:
- there isn't any money left for training after paying for the application.
- there isn't any time to go for training - either due to a looming deadline, or missing the window for the training class(es).
- the person using the application doesn't have access to the printed User Manual because (1) they're being kept someplace "safe" (2) No printed User Manual exists.
- the person sent to training isn't the person who really uses the application.
So if we are going to meet the needs of the larger audience, online help should contain all levels of information, clearly and cleanly organized so everyone can find what they need.
Easy to do? No, absolutely not. But who said this was going to be easy? ;-)
Labels: communicating, help, online help, training
posted: 6:19 PM
