I’d Rather Be Writing – Tom Johnson

With all the talk about latest trends and avoiding extinction as communicators, and integrating web 2.0 and wikis, blogs, podcasts, and other interactive social media into help, it’s a good time to look at how Google — practically the leader of the web — does help.

Last week Google released Google Voice, a service that allows you to integrate all your phones into one number and includes a host of features, including voice mail, recording, conference calling, and other services.

To help users get started, Google Voice has a list of 20 short videos. Only the overview video contains animation. It’s certainly the video they’ve put the most work into, and it also functions as marketing collateral.

The other videos are fairly simple, with short looping background music, professional voice talent, and a read script. The defining quality is that each video is short, some as short as 25 seconds. Read the rest of this entry »

I received another question from John from Delaware. It was actually in his other e-mail, but I neglected to address it because I don’t usually spend so much time answering readers’ questions. This one, however, addresses a topic I’m presenting on in a usability progression at the upcoming STC Summit in Atlanta.

Concerned about the field of technical writing, John writes,

People don’t read manuals — I’m sure you’ve heard this one, but isn’t it true? I rarely read manuals, not that I don’t see their value. Still, I remember a day (you whippersnapper) when manuals could be measured in inches. Not only that, they were on PAPER! *Shock* *Horror* I know people don’t read manuals because they’re calling me. And it seems the industry has responded to this by printing less manuals, making all-digital manuals, and hiring outsourced help desks to answer questions already in the manual. Will there be a time when manuals disappear? Perhaps my topic focus is too narrow, as I’m thinking of computer manuals, but I digress…

One answer, John, is that even though your customers may not read manuals, your tech support team probably does, which means someone is reading the manuals and using them to help others. But if your users find it easier to call someone, wait on hold for an agent, and then ask the agent a question rather than find the answer in the help, maybe your help materials aren’t very usable. Maybe increasing the usability of your company’s documentation could alleviate the need users feel to seek answers from another source.

Find Out What Users Want

Instead of exploring methods for making manuals more usable, the real question is why you’re making manuals at all if no one is using them. Almost everyone in business knows that if your customers don’t want a product, you don’t keep buying more of the product and stocking your shelves with it. Instead, you stock your store with products people want. This brings me to point #1: Find out what help materials your users want. Read the rest of this entry »

Usability SIG Newsletter interview

I was recently interviewed by David Dick for the Usability SIG newsletter. The title of the interview is “I’d Rather Be Writing – The Man Behind the Words.” Check it out.

They also reprinted my post on Customizing Sharepoint, which has gotten more hits than I ever imagined.

Last night my oldest daughter (who is seven years old) finally learned to ride a bike. After a few painful crashes learning the traditional way (where you just receive a push and try to go), Jane read a tip on one of her mommy blogs about a new method to teach children to ride a bike:

1. Remove both pedals from the bike.
2. Lower the seat all the way.
3. Let the child scoot along with the bike using her feet for as long as she wants. This helps the child learn to balance and feel comfortable on the bike.
4. When the child asks for the pedals (my daughter asked for the pedals after two days), reattach them and raise the seat again.
5. Now give the child a little push and off she goes. Read the rest of this entry »

After a topic title in your help, what do you write? Do you jump straight into the numbered steps, or do you explain why a user would likely perform the topic?

Although I practice the latter (adding explanatory text before the steps), I recently read an article by Mike Hughes that convinced me readers rarely read text that appears before a numbered list. Read the rest of this entry »

I was digging into some SharePoint books on Safari online tonight, and I noticed something incredibly cool. While I’m reading a page of a book, there’s a section at the bottom called “Additional Reading.” Based on keyword/topic matches, it pulls similar content from other chapters of other books in the Safari library.

It’s not just showing me related books for my topic, but is showing me related chapters from other books. I ended up not just reading one book, but reading similar chapters of about 5 different books tonight. This integration breaks down the silos between books and seems to create one seamless library of information. All I can say is, this is totally awesome.

Download MP3 (right-click, select Save Target As)
Duration: 30 min.

In this podcast, I talk with Theresa Putkey, a usability consultant in Vancouver, about how she transitioned from technical writing into usability. This is part II of the previous conversation with Theresa.

Learn more about Theresa by reading her blog. You can also read Theresa’s articles on Boxes and Arrows. Read the rest of this entry »