Thought of
the week
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Design Out Errors
Online Help is
no substitute for good design. When an error can be predicted the
designer’s first thought should be how to reduce the likelihood of
the error occurring rather than trying to wordsmith a helpful error
message.
Accessing a Help
system in order to resolve a problem is a diversion that users can
do without. However, the necessity for a Help system still remains
for reasons of helping novices to begin their work and enabling more
experienced users to learn about more advanced features.
The following
figure provides an example of how onscreen messages can be used to
assist users by explaining the dialogue and educating the user. In
this example messages are used to explain the scope of a search and
also methods for searching. The messages only use a small amount of
screen real estate and will avoid the need for some visits to the
Help system.
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