What are we doing wrong?

Shaun McCance shaunm at gnome.org
Tue Jan 19 22:47:27 UTC 2010


On Tue, 2010-01-19 at 20:37 +0700, Daniel Bo wrote:
> Shaun,
> 
> Unless a system operates exactly the way a user expects it to, users
> will need to read the help files. We have determined through years of
> forum and IRC comments that yes, people need help -- that Ubuntu
> doesn't operate the way they expect it to.

Absolutely.  I'd be the last person to suggest otherwise.
I apologize for not making that more clear in my previous
email.  What I meant to suggest was not that documentation
is irrelevant, but rather that it is only relevant insofar
as it's responding to a real user need.

>  Few use the help, though,
> because they don't really expect it to have answers or even understand
> that it exists.
> 
> A first-run help system will:
> 1) Let new users know that help exists off-line;
> 2) Introduce common problems on the very first page in order to let
> the new user know that answers to these problems exist;
> 3) Identify that there really IS a help system for other, less common
> problems; and
> 4) Not appear on the second and later logins, thus not nagging anyone.
> You can't nag if you only say it once in a nice way.

You may be right, but I wonder:
1) How many users really don't know a help system exists?
2) How many users would take the time to notice that the
   first-run help is help before dismissing it out of hand?
3) How many users will find the help system when they need
   it, both with and without first-run help?

I don't think any of us have those numbers.  It would be
interesting to conduct some experiments to find out.

My intuition and experience tells me that, not only do
people not read first-run help, they don't even look at
it long enough to realize what it is.



-- 
Shaun McCance
http://syllogist.net/





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