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Beyond the Tripane Window: Developing a Customized HTML-Based Help System

Course duration: 2 days
Class details: Not hands on; class size limited to 16 people
Availability: Onsite
Cost: Contact us for pricing
Registration: Call +1 215-357-3453

By now, you've probably experimented with develping HTML-based help, and you may be wondering: What else can I do? What if I don't want to use the vanilla tripane design that HTML Help, JavaHelp, WebHelp, and all of those other HTML-based help systems are using? How do I approach building a customized design that meets the goals of my product? And how do I build closer ties between the help system and the user?

As you move past the initial stages of HTML-based help design, two things become clear: (1) you need to approach help development as user interface design, often by using sophisticated HTML techniques; and (2) good help systems are increasingly likely to include some interactive aspects.

In this two-day course, we'll look at the customized user interface in a help system as a deep-rooted design foundation in which help development becomes an aspect of the product environment. We'll also look at how to make your help system more interactive. Does this sound pretty high-minded and difficult for an online help system? Not so. In fact, even in the heydey of WinHelp, customized interface design strategies such as tabbed interfaces and graphical navigation were becoming increasingly common. In addition, help authors were moving toward interactivity through features like dynamic link libraries to enhance the capabilities of the browser, training cards that demonstrate software functions, and ShortCut macros that evoke software.

In this course, we'll look at lots of new trends in HTML-based help design - from the working to the experimental, from rollovers to Dynamic HTML, from weblications to embedded help - and tackle the thinking and implementation issues that go into making these designs work. We'll look at lots of case studies and examples that demonstrate the design and technical issues behind building customized content models and interactive online help.

This course isn't specific to particular authoring tools or help development environments, although we will discuss specifics of tools and development environments as appropriate. You should expect to spend some time looking at HTML codes and JavaScript during the course.

Note: Outlines are subject to change without notice.

Course outline

Day 1

Part 1. The Basics of HTML-Based Help

• What Does This Course Cover?
• A Few Assumptions About You
• Some Resource Recommendations

Part 2. Moving from Standard to Customized Designs

• A Look at the HTML-based help design models
• Why Depart from the Standard Designs?
• Moving to Second- and Third-Generation Designs
• What Are the Authoring Tool and Browser Requirements of Customized Designs?

Part 3. Developing an HTML-Based User Interface

• Approaching help design as interface design
• What Should an Interface Do?
• The Pertinent Characteristics of Interfaces
• Considerations for HTML-Based Interfaces
• Common Interface Design Errors

Part 4. The Graphical Requirements of Customized Designs

• The Graphic as a User Interface Element
• Envisioning as an Artist
• What Does Art Add to a Custom Help System?
• The Expense of Graphics
• HTML Graphical Building Blocks
• Developing Rollovers
• Other Tips for Handling Graphics

Part 5. Building a Customized Topic Model

• The Topic as a User Interface Element
• HTML Building Blocks for Topic Design
• Formatting with Stylesheets
• Formatting with Tables
• Controlling Topic Backgrounds
• Formatting with Expandomatic Text
• Using DHTML to Create Information Types

Part 6. Building a Customized Navigational Model

• Navigation as a User Interface Component
• HTML Building Blocks for Creating Navigation
• Controlling the Appearance of Links
• Using Checkboxes, Radio Buttons, and Drop-Down Lists
• Developing Your Own Site Navigation
• Developing Menus and Toolbars
• Alternatives for One-to-Many Links

Part 7. Managing Real Estate in a Custom Design

• Real Estate as a User Interface Component
• HTML Building Blocks for Managing Real Estate
• Managing Real Estate with Navigation
• Managing Real Estate with Tables

Day 2

Part 8. What Is Interactivity?

• What is Interactivity?
• Information Interaction Design
• Interactivity as Participation
• Interactivity as Performance
• Interactive Web Site
• Interactive Help Systems: Why and How?

Part 9. Interactivity Through Media

• The Multimedia Issue: Is It Just Sizzle?
• Some Practical Media Considerations
• "Look at Me" Examples of Multimedia at Work
• Interface Examples of Multimedia at Work
• Instructional Examples of Multimedia at Work

Part 10. Interactivity in Content Design

• Rethinking Help Content as Software
• Developing Dynamic Content
• Developing Cursor Response
• Developing Topc-Content Interactiion

Part 11. Interactivity Through User Response

• What Does It Mean to Respond to Users?
• Common Web-Based Methods for Responding to Users
• The Customer Service Model: Amazon.com
• The IntelliSense Model: The Office Assistant

Part 12. Developing Embedded Help

• A Preliminary Definition
• Why Build Help into the Interface?
• The Function of Embedded Help
• Developing Process Embedded Help
• Developing Instructional Embedded Help
• Developing Context Embedded Help
• Developing Agent Embedded Help

Part 13. Developing the Technology Foundation for Interactive, Customized Help

• Why Do You Need to Worry About Technology?
• The Programmer's Development Environment
• The Author's Development Environment
• Understanding Context-Sensitive Help
• Utilizing HTML Foundation
• Developing Media Skills
• Handling Privacy and Security Concerns
• Getting Buy-in for Technology Deployment

Last updated, September 2002

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