Use interactive multimedia with text-based online documentation to achieve the minimalist model pioneered by instructional design guru John Carroll. Non-linear modules of “real” tasks help users get started fast, and quickly learn from any errors. (from May 2004)

1. ACHIEVING MINIMALISM THROUGH
INTERACTIVE MULTIMEDIA
1 CADENCE DESIGN SYSTEMS, INC.
Dave De Yoreo
MAY 12, 2004 Ben Kauffman

2. Please Turn off Your Cellphone
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Yoreo / Ben Kauffman 2004 STC Conference / Baltimore

3. Welcome to Baltimore
– Introduction
– Minimalism
– Minimalism Via Multimedia
– Implementing Multimedia
– References
– Q & A
– Demo
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Yoreo / Ben Kauffman 2004 STC Conference / Baltimore

4. INTRODUCTION
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Yoreo / Ben Kauffman 2004 STC Conference / Baltimore

5. Our Challenge
Our Technical Publications group was challenged
on two fronts:
1. Our customers wanted better self-help materials that
showed them, quickly, how to use our tools.
2. Our management wanted us to develop and apply
innovative ideas in our documentation.
We needed to respond!
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Yoreo / Ben Kauffman 2004 STC Conference / Baltimore

6. Doc Users 101
• Users do not like to read.
• “Information…consumes the attention of its
recipients. A wealth of information creates a
poverty of attention.” (Herbert Simon)
• Time spent reading documentation is time
spent not using the product.
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Yoreo / Ben Kauffman 2004 STC Conference / Baltimore

7. Doc Users 201
• Were raised with multimedia
– Video games, music videos, instant wireless communication
• Are impatient
• Prefer to learn by doing
– Attempt, interact, infer
• Want smarter documentation
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Yoreo / Ben Kauffman 2004 STC Conference / Baltimore

8. Doc Users 301
Minimalism pioneer John Carroll found that
computer users:
– Want to be engaged in the learning process by
actually using the software
– Do not like text-based front-end overviews
– Do not follow instructions “willingly or well”
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Yoreo / Ben Kauffman 2004 STC Conference / Baltimore

9. Satisfied Users = Happy Company
• Fewer support calls
• Product loyalty / customer retention
• Brand loyalty
• Sales referrals
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Yoreo / Ben Kauffman 2004 STC Conference / Baltimore

10. Our Solution
For a message to be effective, you must:
• Make the recipient a participant, not an audience
member; involve them in the action
We determined that screen-capture video, linked
from online tutorials, would be an innovative and
effective solution.
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Yoreo / Ben Kauffman 2004 STC Conference / Baltimore

11. In the End
You will see how we combined online interactive animations
with traditional text-based tutorials to achieve the following
key components of minimalist documentation:
• Fast Start on Real Tasks – By using interactive animation to simulate
actual user tasks.
• Error Feedback and Recovery – By combining mouse click and text entry
hotspot control with success and failure feedback.
• Modularity – By building a library of independent videos.
old PDF sample
new PDF sample
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Yoreo / Ben Kauffman 2004 STC Conference / Baltimore

12. MINIMALISM
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Yoreo / Ben Kauffman 2004 STC Conference / Baltimore

13. Intro to Minimalism
• Developed by John Carroll, and detailed in his book
The Nurnberg Funnel: Designing Minimalist
Instruction for Practical Computer Skill
• The idea behind the Nurnberg Funnel was to literally
“pour” knowledge into the head of the recipient
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Yoreo / Ben Kauffman 2004 STC Conference / Baltimore

14. Presenting Information
• Systems approach—Users “learn by the book”
– Present conceptual info, then have user follow step-by-step
procedures
• Minimalist approach—Users “learn by doing”
– Reduce descriptions to the essentials
– Let user work with tools
– Encourage action over reading; think in terms of verbs
not nouns when designing sections (“Changing the Filter”
as opposed to “The Filter”)
– Allow self learning; let user “infer and discover, reason
and improvise”
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Yoreo / Ben Kauffman 2004 STC Conference / Baltimore

15. The Old Way:
Linear Approach
• Interdependent chapters
– Chapter 1 + Chapter 2 – Chapter 3
Chapters 1-3 – Chapter 4
– Chapters build collectively toward a macro goal.
• The problem:
– Our users have their own goals; we need to
understand those goals, then get out of the way.
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Yoreo / Ben Kauffman 2004 STC Conference / Baltimore

16. The New Way:
Non-Linear Approach
• “Random-Access Information”
– Each reader has slightly different goals.
– Minimalist design requires interaction with our users.
Who are our users and what do they already know?
• Independent chapters
– Each chapter should work on its own toward a
specific micro goal; “provide closure to chapters.”
– There’s no “wrong” way to read a well-designed non-linear
manual.
– Allows easier reuse.
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Yoreo / Ben Kauffman 2004 STC Conference / Baltimore

17. Principles of Minimalism
• Help users get started quickly
• Document “real” tasks
• Allow for reading in any order
• Leverage user’s prior knowledge
• Coordinate product with documentation
• Support error recognition and recovery
• Encourage active involvement in the learning
process, through reasoning and improvisation
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Yoreo / Ben Kauffman 2004 STC Conference / Baltimore

18. Organizational Tips
• Even non-linear manuals should present
tasks/chapters in a logical manner (easiest – most
difficult)
• Road test the manual (tech review, beta test, etc.)
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Yoreo / Ben Kauffman 2004 STC Conference / Baltimore

19. Challenges of Minimalism
• John Carroll was able to restrict software functionality to:
– Prevent errors
– Provide guidance, hints, instruction
• He called this the “training wheels” approach to learning
Q: So how can we do essentially the same thing, without
restricting our software?
A: Interactive simulations
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Yoreo / Ben Kauffman 2004 STC Conference / Baltimore

20. MINIMALISM VIA MULTIMEDIA
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Yoreo / Ben Kauffman 2004 STC Conference / Baltimore

21. How We Got Here
As a first step, we combined written tutorial procedures with computer
video animations.
These video clips meet the following minimalist principles:
– Concentrate on real user tasks
– Form the basis of a modular library that could be viewed in any order
– Are closely related to the actual system being learned
Instead of writing traditional step-wise procedures to tell someone how
to perform a task, we linked a video to show the user how to do it.
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Yoreo / Ben Kauffman 2004 STC Conference / Baltimore

22. Old Video Procedure:
User Sits Back and Watches
Video clips are like television:
• Entertaining but passive - Not an effective educational medium.
• Lack involvement - Make the learner an audience member rather than a
participant.
Flash Demo
By introducing text instructions, interactivity, and feedback we
could transform passive video into a more engaging,
memorable educational medium.
Implementing this enhancement required new tools!
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Yoreo / Ben Kauffman 2004 STC Conference / Baltimore

23. New Video Procedure:
User is an Active Participant
We needed a video technology that provided us with a
way to implement the following:
– Include instructions, callouts, and audio
– Identify errors and provide success/failure feedback
– Simulate the system being learned
We found the interactive video technology
by Qarbon, called Viewlets.
Viewlet Demo
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Yoreo / Ben Kauffman 2004 STC Conference / Baltimore

24. IMPLEMENTING MULTIMEDIA
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Yoreo / Ben Kauffman 2004 STC Conference / Baltimore

25. Things to Think About When
Using Multimedia
• Platform Issues (creation side, and customer side)
– File Types/Formats
– Tools
• Working with a Document Management System
– Formats
– Filters
• Streaming v. Downloadable Media
– Size of Videos
– In-House v. Third-Party Servers
– Customer Bandwidth
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Yoreo / Ben Kauffman 2004 STC Conference / Baltimore

26. Multimedia Authoring Tools
• ViewletBuilder (Professional) — Create animated presentations and software
simulations; outputs in Flash format; $499
– http://www.qarbon.com/products/viewletbuilder
• RoboDemo — Create interactive demonstrations and software simulations in
Flash format; $499
– http://www.macromedia.com/software/robodemo
• Camtasia Studio — Record/edit/publish screen videos; support for both Flash
and streaming media (i.e., .rm files); $299
– http://www.techsmith.com/products/studio/default.asp
• Flash MX — Create content and applications across desktops and devices;
$499
– http://www.macromedia.com/software/flash/?promoid=home_prod_flash_082403
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Yoreo / Ben Kauffman 2004 STC Conference / Baltimore

27. Viewlets Support Interactivity
• Simulate a running tool by displaying animated screenshots
• Enable interactive text entry fields and mouse-click hot spots
• Supply success and failure feedback
• Can include audio, text captions, and callouts
By using these features, Viewlets helped us complete the shift to
minimalist design for documentation!
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Yoreo / Ben Kauffman 2004 STC Conference / Baltimore

28. Completing the Shift to Minimalism
Viewlets let us:
• Simulate the operation of the software, using:
– Interactive text fields
– Mouse-click hot-zones
• Recover from errors by:
– Displaying success and failure messages
– Displaying hints and tips
• Display the simulation in the user’s browser
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Yoreo / Ben Kauffman 2004 STC Conference / Baltimore

29. Interactive Simulations
Meet the Principles of Minimalism
• Get users started quickly
– Minimize front-end material and move text-based procedures to multimedia
• Accomplish real tasks
– Simulate the actual operation of software
• Support error recovery
– Give helpful tips or success/failure messages
• Allow for reading in any order
– Develop a library of modular, independent animations
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Yoreo / Ben Kauffman 2004 STC Conference / Baltimore

30. Interactive Simulations
Benefit Users
• The actual software does not have to be installed for a
user to follow an animated tutorial
• Viewlets can simulate the interactivity of a product GUI
without consuming a software license
• New users can get a feel for the software before
attending training classes
• Research has shown that those who use
computer simulations – training wheels –
to learn basic functions, learn advanced
functions more effectively.
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Yoreo / Ben Kauffman 2004 STC Conference / Baltimore

31. Things to Think About When
Creating Interactive Tutorials
Determine where to best use interactive tutorials:
– Interactive tutorials are best used for simulating procedures.
– Audio/video presentations are best used for introductions and overviews.
Determine the best presentation format:
– Show the procedure first and then let the user reproduce it.
– Show a step and then let the user mimic the step.
Respect the user’s attention span:
– 1 to 3 minutes is optimal, 4 to 5 minutes is maximum
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Yoreo / Ben Kauffman 2004 STC Conference / Baltimore

32. Sample Viewlets
• Oracle
– http://otn.oracle.com/products/jdev/viewlets/viewlet.html
• Sony
– http://www.ita.sel.sony.com/support/tutorials/lib/clie.html
• ModelSim
– http://www.model.com/demos
• Merry Mechanization
– http://www.merrymech.com/_qarbon/draw_a_formed_part_viewlet_swf.html
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Yoreo / Ben Kauffman 2004 STC Conference / Baltimore

33. References
• Minimalism Beyond the Nurnberg Funnel, John M. Carroll,
MIT Press, 1998
• The Nurnberg Funnel: Designing Minimalist Instruction for Practical
Computer Skill, John M. Carroll, MIT Press, 1990
• Effective Documentation: What We Have Learned from Research,
Stephen Doheny-Farina (ed.), MIT Press, 1988
• “A Moving Picture Is Worth a Thousand Help Files,” Y. Li-Ron,
PC Magazine, April 1995
• “Information Engineering for the 21st Century,” John Bowie, Intercom,
November 2003
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Yoreo / Ben Kauffman 2004 STC Conference / Baltimore

34. Q & A
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Yoreo / Ben Kauffman 2004 STC Conference / Baltimore

35. DEMO:
Creating a Viewlet – In a Nutshell
Writers can create Viewlet presentations with ease:
1. Take a series of screenshots while performing the task.
2. Add instructions, text fields, and mouse hotspots.
3. Define success criteria for text and mouse hotspots.
4. Supply recovery tips for failures.
5. Save the project.
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Yoreo / Ben Kauffman 2004 STC Conference / Baltimore

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Yoreo / Ben Kauffman 2004 STC Conference / Baltimore