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INFORMATION

People are visual creatures. They look at your product and see, for example, a button or screen. They want to know the control or indicator. A signal visual access is a document of simple but powerful enabling readers to find the information you want.

This article describes the concept of Visual Index and explains how to create one for the document.

A visual index

A visual signal is an image of your product or process with links to information relevant in the relevant document. Using a visual index, your readers can see the images, and move quickly to the location of your document that describes the item of interest.

Your document may include multiple The visual cues (the plural of "index" is the "evidence" and not "test").

STARTS WITH PHOTO

Visual Index begins with a photo of your product or process. There are different types of images to use depending on the type of product:

* Physical product (such as a barbecue or a video disc recorder)

Product pictures (all views).

* A process or process: A graph of the steps and decisions in the procedure or process.

Software * 1: Screenshots of software.

* Software Product 2: images before and after work that makes the product.

* Organization: An organization.

PHOTO TAG

Identify all Interaction of product users Points (U-PIP) image. A U-PIP is wherever your user name and the product can interact. U-PIP include controls, displays, and relevant physical characteristics of the product (eg, handles, locks, etc.) Provide a way (the reader) label (name) with the sub-MIP. (Use this label exactly the same wherever you refer to this Sub-PIP).

Exception: If the product works sounds to inform the user, then include a table of these sounds, what they mean, and a link in the relevant area of the document (describing the sound.)

The U-LINK your document PIP

Until point, the visual signal is correctly labeled as a photo of your product or process. However, when links are added in the document, the picture becomes even scored a visual signal.

The link should be a section of your document that you think the reader wants to get more information on the U-PMI. (This is a fundamental issue when you create a list: "My reader will not come to this place in my document for this position?)

His method of adding links to the image depends publication of the document mechanism. If the document is published as:

* A printed document, then use the page numbers of the relays;

* An electronic document, then use hyperlinks that the reader can click on continue. If the document is published in HTML format then the visual signal may be an image map.

Example 1: A foot pain

I have a pain in the foot when I walk. If I go to a website foot would be very useful for finding information about my pain, if I could see a picture of a foot with the different areas where the pain can be. Links to areas specific web pages of the foot that would find the specific details of my foot pain quickly.

Example 2: PHOTO correction software

View a photo with the errors that the software can handle, before and after correction. Here, the U-PMI are the photo errors.

Example 3: Courses for writing user documentation

Visual index is a flow chart to create the document to the user. From The course is presented in HTML, the signal is done with a visual image map with hyperlinks to relevant articles of the race at each position in the chart.

BOTTOM LINE

A visual signal is a simple concept. But like many simple concepts, is very powerful. Try to include one in your next paper. You do your readers a great service.

Barry Millman, Ph.D., has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering (1966, Carnegie Institute of Technology) and an M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Psychology (Human Information Processing, University of Calgary). He has been a consultant for over 25 years, an instructor, course developer, and award-winning speaker. For the past seven years he has been researching and creating resources to help organizations create great User Documents.

Visit: http://www.greatuserdocs.com/ for resources to help you create the User Documents that your Product needs and your Users deserve.

Visit http://www.greatuserdocs.com/ReadingRoom.htm for more articles like this one.

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