Documentation:Context Sensitive Help

Should applications be required to have context-sensitive help?

A second thread was added to the draft submission page, in section 3 (Other Material) item B: Issues this subcommittee is not addressing, but which should be addressed. It was not included in the official submitted draft #1 since we had not discussed it. The comment was submitted by Jim Tobias. The text is:

"Context-sensitive help is another important feature. For example, pressing F1 in some computer applications launches a help window that is already focused on what the user is trying to do."

Many programs already implement this. Do we want to have a standard that requires it?

A proposed draft of best practices guidance was added to April working drafts for discussion.

Comments and discussion

18 March - Whitney Quesenbery

I'm quite torn on this one.

On the one hand, it seems like "a good thing". But it could so easily be misused. We've lived through online help that documented each and every field, dialog and window for the sake of completeness, and have seen the degradation of trust in Help functions as a result.

I think the point here is similar to the discussion we had around documenting keyboard access - and the need to avoid overspecifying the design.

Maybe we should think about it this way: the goals are to make information about how to use the product:

- include information on use with all modes - easy to find without extra navigation or distraction from the primary task - available in accessible form(s)

I can easily think about how to write design guidelines to meet these goals, but I'm much harder pressed to think about writing requirements that don't have unintended consequences, and that apply to all products.

Would we want to consider writing a introduction that says this? It might help, if we have any detailed requirements to put them into a context of the accessibility goals.

The other reason I'm torn is that I'd rather see the interface itself be more helpful (if not just plain usable), rather than requiring external help.