This document discusses different types of user support for software applications. It identifies quick reference, task-specific help, full explanations, and tutorials as the main types of support users require. It also outlines requirements for help systems such as availability, accuracy, consistency, robustness, flexibility, and unobtrusiveness. The document then examines different methods of providing support, including command assistance, command prompts, context-sensitive help, on-line tutorials, on-line documentation, wizards, and assistants.

1. Group Members
1. Muzamil Altaf
2. M.Arqam Awais
3. Basit Riaz
4. Muhammad Aslam
5. MuhammadAfshan

2.  Issues
 different types of support at different times
 implementation and presentation both important
 all need careful design
 Types of user support
 quick reference:
Quick reference is used primarily as a reminder to the user of the
details of tools he is basically familiar with and has used before. It
may,for example, be used to find a particular command option, or to
remind the user of the syntax of the command.
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– task specific help:
Task-specific help is required when the user has
encountered a problem in performing a particular task or when he is
uncertain how to apply the tool to his particular problem.
– full explanation:
The more experienced or inquisitive user may require a
full explanation of a tool or command to enable him to understand it
more fully. This explanation will almost certainly include
information that the user does not need at that time.
– tutorial:
The fourth type of support required by users is tutorial
help. This is particularly aimed at new users of a tool and provides
step-by-step instruction (perhaps by working through examples) of
how to use the tool.

4. 4
• Provided by help and documentation
– help - problem-oriented and specific
– documentation - system-oriented and general
– same design principles apply to both
Requirements
• Availability
– continuous access concurrent to main application
• Accuracy and completeness
– help matches and covers actual system behaviour

5.  Consistency
 between different parts of the help system and paper
documentation
 Robustness
 correct error handling and predictable behaviour
 Flexibility
 allows user to interact in a way appropriate to experience and task
 Unobtrusiveness
 does not prevent the user continuing with work
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6.  Command assistance
 User requests help on particular command
e.g., UNIX man, DOS help
 Good for quick reference
 Assumes user knows what to look for
 Command prompts
 Provide information about correct usage when an error occurs
 Good for simple syntactic errors
 Also assumes knowledge of the command
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8. 8In unix we’d use “man –k” to find commands related to a keyword

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10.  The system should offer help on correct syntax when a user
gets the command syntax incorrect
 In WIMP systems, the menus provide a degree of command
prompting and error avoidance
 First, the menus (and toolbars/buttons) identify available commands
 Second, the parameters of a command are set out by the dialog of the
command itself
 Third, any file parameters can usually be achieved by browsing to a file
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11.  A GUI can prevent overt syntax errors through the dialog structure
 Of course,
this doesn’t
mean the
users can’t
still make
errors in the
sense of not
achieving what
they wanted
(and possibly
not knowing
that they don’t
have what they
wanted)
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12.  Context sensitive help
 help request interpreted according to context in which it occurs. e.g.
tooltips
 On-line tutorials
 user works through basics of application in a test environment
 can be useful but are often inflexible
 On-line documentation
 paper documentation is made available on computer
 continually available in common medium
 can be difficult to browse
 hypertext used to support browsing
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15.  wizards
 task specific tool leads the user through task, step by step, using user’s answers
to specific questions
 Most often seen for installation procedures
 useful for safe completion of complex or infrequent tasks
 constrained task execution so limited flexibility
 must allow user to go back
 assistants
 monitor user behaviour and offer contextual advice
 must be under user control e.g. XP smart tags
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Let you know the system has a series of options available with
respect to the most recent action (e.g., after Edit Paste)