Shanghai Tech Writer

In a previous post, I wrote about discovering Windows Live Writer as a useful tool for writing blog posts offline. I briefly mentioned about the importance of designing software and documentation for users like me who are kinesthetic and visual learners as well as short on attention span.

When I try a new software—give and take it’s a productivity tool that I’ve read or heard about and not a work-required tool—if I can’t figure the software out in five minutes, I’ll give up and the likelihood of me using the tool again is slim.

Usability Features

The five minutes usability test means a software has five minutes to win a user, like me, over. Indeed, Windows Live Writer passed my five minutes usability test. I was able to figure out how to use Live Writer within a few minutes thanks to the following features.

1. Intuitive User Interface. User-interface is very important to software usability. If a software has good UI design, then there’s almost no need for documentation! All the tools you need to perform basic tasks are right where you expect them to be.
2. Button Graphics. Buttons perform specific tasks and functions. The images shown on these buttons should be self-explanatory as well as placed or grouped in an intuitive location. 
   
3. Labels. Button graphics that aren’t as self-explanatory have labels next to them.
4. Embedded Help. Along with good button graphics, embedded help is very useful as you explore a new software. When hovering over a button that might not be as “intuitive,” a simple pop-up explanation or label guides you in using the software. These pop-ups should be timed well, appearing not immediately when moused-over, but after a slight wait. In addition, they should disappear when you move the mouse away. The most annoying embedded helps are pop-ups that keep appearing when you don’t need them or have to close manually by clicking. 
   
5. Shortcut Keys. Most software has shortcut keys that you can use to speed up specific tasks. Unfortunately, if you don’t know about these shortcut keys, they are no good at all. Frequently accessed tasks or buttons should display its shortcut keys either in the embedded help or pull-down menu. 
    

These features in Windows Live Writer made it easy for me to use the software. The UI is very intuitive and I was able to figure out the basics as well as the advanced features immediately.

Software and Documentation Usability

From my previous post about using Windows Live Writer:

I don’t bother reading documentation until I actually like the software and choose to continue using it. Then, I’ll look at the documentation to search for a specific task that I’m trying to perform, that’s if, I couldn’t figure it out from the UI.

So this begs the question how software and documentation should be designed for users like me who are kinesthetic and visual learners in addition to having limited attention span, otherwise known as ADHD. There are many users out there, like me, who would much prefer to figure out a software hands-on rather than reading documentation.

My conclusion:

1. Design software user-interface such that users can perform all the basic functions without reading any documentation.
2. Include UI features I mentioned in the beginning of the post.
3. Create online help located on the Internet, not local computer.
4. Include a search box, a FAQ section, and a table of contents (TOC) in the default help topic.
5. Track help topic page views and keyword searches.
6. Use the view/search stats to generate the most frequently accessed help topic for the FAQ.

I can’t say these methods will work well for all software and documentation, but that’s the kind of software and documentation design that gets my attention.

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