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RE: alternatives to screenshots for Help pages?

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From: Robinson, Norman B - Washington, DC
Date: May 17, 2005 10:47AM

I don't know if it is applicable, but where my organization uses web
applications, I've suggested they simply use the same code as the
application itself. Don't do a screen snapshot - use a copy of the web
content. My purpose is to address several problems that having a fixed
sized bitmap image causes with different screen sizes, ignoring user's
color preferences, and the fact the actual CSS+XHTML is usually (in our
applications) more accessible than the screen snapshot.

It requires an approach to how you present the elements, such as pulling
the code for just the feature or form entry you want to target. For
instance, the designer thinks showing only the search bar illustrates
what they want the user to focus on and eliminated the rest of the
content. But the designer took the code from the actual page and
controls the learning plan for that example. I've suggested the designer
could also take all form elements and redirect them to 'this is for
demonstration only' along with a return for a demo account user.

On some applications it may be easier to consider a demonstration
account. This enables full use and experimentation of the application.
If you are using dynamic web sites you can also embed the instructions
at the beginning of the page for the benefit of all users.

Hope that wasn't too far from your actual question,

Norman

-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED>
[mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of KNOCK
Alistair
Sent: Tuesday, May 17, 2005 3:33 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: RE: [WebAIM] alternatives to screenshots for Help pages?


[In my opinion....]

Screenshots can be a help and a hindrance to all users. I'm sure some
people benefit from the 70-80 page colour A4 documents that some of our
departments publish, but considering that the entirety of the text can
usually be summed up in two or three pages of bulleted action lists, the
decimation of trees seems unjust. The copy should always be able to
stand alone, so that the user can use it in conjunction with the system
itself.

Out of interest, how complex is the site, if it's judged to require
screenshots to guide the user? Also consider the resource implications
of having to update screenshots as well as guidance notes.

Cheers,
Alistair

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Don Hinshaw [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ]
> Sent: 16 May 2005 20:57
> To: WebAIM Discussion List
> Subject: [WebAIM] alternatives to screenshots for Help pages?
>
>
> Hi there,
> I am coding Help (how to use this site) pages and have been asked to
> incorporate screenshots to illustrate the points being made
> in the text. I am struggling with the best way to present
> them, or rather augment
> them so that the pages are actually *Helpful*.
> I am thinking it might just be a matter of ensuring that the copy can
> stand on its own if a user cannot see the screenshots.
> Any thoughts on this, or good examples?
> I notice that the WebAIM Dreamweaver pages use screenshots
> with ALT text
> and nothing more.
>
> Thanks,
> Don
>
> --
> Don Hinshaw
> Hinshaw Design Group
> http://www.hinshawdesign.com
>
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