User Support

Todays Outline
Users have different requirements for
support at different times.
User support should be:

available

but unobtrusive
accurate and robust
consistent and flexible.

Todays Outline

User support comes in a number of styles:

command-based

methods
context-sensitive help
tutorial help
online documentation
wizards and assistants
adaptive help.

Todays Outline

Design of user support must take account

of:
presentation

issues
implementation issues.

Overview
Users require different types of support at
different times.
There are four main types of assistance
that users require:

Quick

reference
Task-specific help
Full explanation
Tutorial.

Quick Reference
Quick reference is used primarily as a
reminder to the user of the details of tools
he is basically familiar with and has used
before.
It may, for example, be used to find a
particular command option, or to remind
the user of the syntax of the command.

Quick Reference -- Telnet

Quick Reference Word 2007 Screen

Task Specific Help

Task-specific help is required when the
user has encountered a problem in
performing a particular task or when he is
uncertain how to apply the tool to his
particular problem.
The help that is offered is directly related
to what is being done.

Task Specific Help Example

Task Specific Help --PowerP

Full Explanation
The more experienced or inquisitive user
may require a full explanation of a tool or
command to enable him to understand it
more fully.
This explanation will almost certainly
include information that the user does not
need at that time.

Full Explanation Example

In Unix, most programs, and many
protocols, functions, and file formats, have
accompanying manuals.
With the man command, you can retrieve
the information in the manual and display
it as text output on your screen.

man --unix

Tutorial

This is particularly aimed at new users of

a tool and provides step-by-step
instruction (perhaps by working through
examples) of how to use the tool.

Tutorial Mail Merge

Types of support
Four types are complementary
Together they support range of points in
users experience with system
Each type may be on-line and off-line
(documentation)

should

be consistent in content
presentation medium may have impact on
design
general principles for both

Requirements of User Support

Designing a good help system needs to
understand some features that help
system should have.
Using all of these help features is not
compulsory for a system.

Requirements Features

Availability

Accuracy and completeness

correct error handling and predictable behaviour

Flexibility

between different parts of the help system and paper documentation

Robustness

help matches and covers actual system behaviour

Consistency

continuous access concurrent to main application

allows user to interact in a way appropriate to experience and task

Unobtrusiveness

does not prevent the user continuing with work

Availability

The user needs to be able to access help

at any time during his interaction with the
system.
He

should not have to quit the application he

is working on in order to open the help
application.

Availability
This is a problem for non-windowed
systems if the help system is independent
of the application that is running.
However, in windowed systems there is no
reason why a help facility should not be
available constantly, at the press of a
button.

Accuracy and completeness

It may seem obvious to state that the

assistance provided should be accurate
and complete.
if

the assistance provided proves not to match

the actual behavior of the system the user
will, at best, become disillusioned with the
help facilities, and, at worst, get into
difficulties.

The completeness also is very important.

Consistency

Users require different types of help for

different purposes.
This

implies that a help system may

incorporate a number of parts.
The help provided by each of these must be
consistent with all the others and within itself

Online help should also be consistent with

paper documentation.
It

should be consistent in terms of content,

terminology and style of presentation.

Robustness
Help systems are often used by people
who are in difficulty, perhaps because the
system is behaving unexpectedly or has
failed altogether.
It is important then that the help system
itself should be robust, both by correct
error handling and predictable behavior.

Flexibility
Many help systems are rigid in that they
will produce the same help message
regardless of the expertise of the person
seeking help or the context in which they
are working.
A flexible help system will allow each user
to interact with it in a way appropriate
to his needs.

Unobtrusiveness

The help system should not prevent the

user from continuing with normal work, nor
should it interfere with the users
application.

Approaches to user support

Command assistance

User requests help on particular command

e.g., UNIX man, DOS help
Good for quick reference
Assumes user know what to look for

This type of help is simple and efficient if the user knows

what he wants to know about and is seeking either a
reminder or more detailed information.
However, it assumes that the user does know what he is
looking for, which is often not the case.

Approaches to user support..

Command prompts

Provide information about correct usage when an error occurs

Good for simple syntactic errors
Also assumes knowledge of the command

Another form of command prompting, which is not

specifically intended to provide help but which supports
the user to a limited degree, is the use of menus and
selectable icons.

Approaches to user support (ctd)

Context sensitive help

help request interpreted according to context in which it occurs.

e.g. tooltips

Approaches to user support

On-line tutorials

user works through basics of application in a test environment.

can be useful but are often inflexible.

On-line documentation

paper documentation is made available on computer.

continually available in common medium
can be difficult to browse
hypertext used to support browsing.

wizards and assistants

wizards
task specific tool leads the user through task, step by step, using users
answers to specific questions
example: resum
useful for safe completion of complex or infrequent tasks
constrained task execution so limited flexibility
must allow user to go back

Approaches to User Support

Assistants
monitor

user behavior and

offer suggestions
unobtrusive and under user
control
Clippy not unobtrusive,
suggestions inappropriate
MS

Office smart tags appear

near object of interest

Adaptive Help

In any large or complex computer system,

users will be familiar with a subset of
the available functionality, demonstrating
expertise in some applications and
having no experience with others, even to
the point of being unaware of their
existence.

Adaptive Help
In addition, different users will have
different
needs
and
levels
of
understanding.
Adaptive help systems attempt to address
these problems.

Adapting

the help that they provide to the

individual user who is making the request and
by actively suggesting alternative courses of
action of which the user may not be
aware.

Intelligent Help: Adaptive Help Systems

Use knowledge of the context, individual user, task,

domain and instruction to provide help adapted to user's
needs.

Problems

knowledge requirements considerable

who has control of the interaction?
what should be adapted?
what is the scope of the adaptation?

Knowledge representation: User modeling

User modeling

single, generic user (non-intelligent)

user-configured model (adaptable)
system-configured model (adaptive)

Static help systems cant address all

user differences.
Adaptive help systems model users,
refining the model by monitoring a
users activities, and present help
tailored to the particular user.

Approaches to User modeling

Quantification
user

moves between levels of expertise

based on quantitative measure of what he
knows

Move from level 1 to level 2 if

system has been used more than twice
commands x and y used effectively
help has not been accessed in this session
system has been used in last 5 days

Approaches to User modeling

Stereotypes
user is

classified into a particular category

Overlay
an

idealized model of expert use is

constructed
actual use compared to it
can determine how far user is from optimal
use
can suggest optimal use strategies

Knowledge representation:
Domain and Task Modeling

Usually involves analysis of command

sequences

Assistants and agents

Covers
common

errors and tasks

command sequences for current task

Problems
interleaved

tasks
user intention

Knowledge representation

Advisory strategy

involves choosing the correct style of advice for a given

situation.
e.g. reminder, tutorial, etc.

few intelligent help systems model advisory strategy, but

choice of strategy is still important.

Techniques for Knowledge

representation
Rule-based
Frame-based
Network-based
Example-based

Techniques for Knowledge

Representation

Rule-based
knowledge

represented as rules
facts interpreted using inference (logic)
used in large domains
IF command is EDIT file 1
AND last command is COMPILE file 1
THEN task is DEBUG
action is describe automatic debugger

Techniques for Knowledge

Representation

Frame-based
knowledge

stored in structure that contains

labeled slots
slot has default value
useful in small domains
User
Expertise level: novice
Command: EDIT file 1
Last command: COMPILE file 1
Errors this session: 6
Action: describe automatic debugger

Techniques for Knowledge

Representation

Network-based
knowledge

represented as relationships
between facts
can link frame-based representations
CC is and instance of COMPILE
COMPILE is a command
COMPILE is related to DEBUG
COMPILE is related to EDIT
Automatic debugger facilitates DEBUG

Techniques for Knowledge

Representation

Example-based
knowledge

represented within decision

structure of classification system
trained to classify rather than programmed
with rules (AI techniques)
detects recurrent features
EDIT file 1
COMPILE file 1

trains

for task debug

Problems with knowledge

representation and modeling

Knowledge difficult to elicit

especially

if domain expert not available

variability of users
difficult to ensure completeness and
correctness

Interpretation of information
during

interaction all we have are logs

do not have users intent or goal

Designing User Support

User support is not an add on - it should
be designed integrally with system.
Should concentrate on content and
context of help rather than technological
issues

There are presentation issues and

implementation issues

Designing User Support : Presentation

issues

How is help requested?

Command
button
function

(on/off)
separate application

How is help displayed?

New

window
whole screen or split screen
pop-up box
hint icons

Designing User Support : Presentation

issues

Effective presentation requires

clear,

familiar, consistent language

instructional rather than descriptive
language
avoid of blocks of text
summary and example

Designing User Support Systems :

Implementation Issues

Is help
OS

command
meta command
application

What resources are available

screen

space
memory capacity
speed

Designing User Support Systems:

Implementation Issues

Structure of help data

single

file
file hierarchy
database

Consider
flexibility

and extensibility
hard copy
browsing

Issues in adaptive help

Initiative

does the user retain control or can the system direct the interaction?
can the system interrupt the user to offer help?

Effect

what is going to be adapted and what information is needed to do this?

only model what is needed.

Scope

is modelling at application or system level?

latter more complex
e.g. expertise varies between applications.

Summary
Users require different support at
different times
User support should be:

available but unobtrusive

accurate and robust
consistent and flexible

User support comes in a number of

styles:

command-based, context sensitive help

tutorial, online doc, wizards and assistants
adaptive help

Summary

Design of user support must take account

of:

presentation and implementation issues