Lauren LaLonde
(llalonde@emich.edu)

Introduction to the concepts of ENGL 428: Computer Documentation

Writing computer documentation: the typical approach vs. our task-oriented approach
The general concept of computer documentation is creating instructions that teach a general user how to use a program or specific features of a program, and having never attempted to write computer documentation, that was the mindset I had coming into the class. However, we quickly learned how ineffective this cut-and-dry notion can be because it doesn't cater to a specific user's needs. Users prefer to see instructions defined by their conception of the tasks they want to accomplish, not by particular facets of the software. The approach we took in English 428 was analyzing a user and situation, defining the tasks the user would want to accomplish in achieving an end, and teaching the user how to complete those tasks using particular software features.

For example, I was once in a class in which students created personal web pages for the first time. Many tried to put digital photos on their pages, but the images would show up at an enormous size in a web browser; this is a common occurrence that usually means the student needs to decrease the resolution of his or her photo. There are plenty of manuals and tutorials that explain how to change the resolution of an image, but if the student doesn't know that resolution is the problem that needs to be fixed, how would he or she be able to find the solution to the problem? The student would want instructions that outline the problem in a way that he/she comprehends, and in fact, I used this situation as the basis for an online tutorial I created for the class.

When I first started the class, I was not used to specifying a particular scenario and user before writing instructions for a program or tool. However, the process became more familiar as the class went on; by the end of the semester, I could tell that I had truly internalized the idea of placing myself in the user's shoes when I was creating my online tutorial and coming up with problems or misunderstandings the user would be likely to encounter even before I'd tested the document on someone else.

The Team Print Tutorial - Adding feedback in electronic editing: Using the commenting feature of Microsoft Word to edit a memo

Contextualizing the Print Tutorial Project

Getting acquainted with the task-oriented approach to documentation
The print tutorial project was the first assignment in which we employed our task-oriented approach. In pairs, we each selected a particular tool or skill in Microsoft Word to teach to a potential user; my partner and I selected the commenting feature, which allows a user to insert comments or queries into a Word document and is a particularly useful editing tool. We created a scenario in which a user wanted to accomplish certain tasks that the commenting feature could help with, outlined those tasks, and designed a tutorial aimed at teaching the user how to complete those tasks using the commenting tool. The potential user my partner and I identified was a student in a technical editing class who wanted to edit and give feedback on a memo a fellow classmate had written.

Reflecting on the Print Tutorial Project

Multiple purposes of print tutorials: teaching technical communication concepts in addition to software uses
At one point in our revision process, my partner and I realized that not only were we teaching the user how to use the commenting feature through our tutorial, but we were teaching him/her editing skills as well by explaining why an editor would want to carry out a certain task (such as giving an overall opinion of the memo or highlighting strong points). Therefore, it was important to set good examples in the screenshots we used to illustrate parts of the commenting process. One screenshot we identified as needing improvement was one we used in demonstrating how to suggest that the writer make certain changes to the memo. The screenshot showed an editor's comment that began with, "You should reword and reformat this line...." However, when giving constructive criticism, starting a sentence with "you" sounds less personable and more like an accusation. In order to avoid giving the user the wrong idea for giving constructive criticism, we changed the text in the screenshot to a less accusing, more helpful suggestion.

Document layout should tailor to tutorial, not the other way around
When first designing our print tutorial, my partner and I liked the idea of having our instructions on the left side of the page and their corresponding screenshots on the right side. However, the page width was too constricting for our graphics, many of which were wide shots, and we almost considered another layout. After some consideration, however, we realized that we should customize the document to fit our own needs; we decided to alter the page orientation and make our tutorial 11 inches wide and 8.5 inches tall instead of the opposite, default measurements.

The Individual Online Tutorial - Decreasing digital photo sizes for web use: Using Photoshop to alter an image's resolution

Contextualizing the Online Tutorial Project

Online tutorials: more consideration for layout and graphics
The online tutorial project took the same principles of the print tutorial project (identifying a potential user's desired tasks and creating a tutorial customized for them), but it focused on tools or skills that could be more effectively taught online instead of in print. It also introduced another way of planning for a tutorial's design, as an online document introduces new things to take into consideration: for example - links, graphic load times, and using HTML tables to arrange a page's elements. The actual layout process was more painstaking and detailed because it required precise HTML coding, rather than the drag-and-drop method of the desktop publishing software I'd used for my print tutorial.

My tutorial topic: decreasing the size of a digital photograph
In the user scenario I based my tutorial on, I focused on students in English 328: Writing, Style and Technology who were creating web pages for the first time. Many novice web page creators will put digital photos on their pages only to find that they display at enormous sizes. This is a common phenomenon, but many students are unsure of what the problem is and how to fix it. I designed my online tutorial to explain both of these things.

Reflecting on the Online Tutorial Project

Anticipating users' tasks: tutorial cannot accommodate for all users' needs
Unfortunately, even with the most intensive analyzing and planning to help users accomplish their desired tasks, it is difficult to accommodate for every need they may have. This was particularly true with the narrow topics we dealt with in our tutorials; I had to face the fact that my tutorial might not help users with everything they wanted, but I found that I could at least try to anticipate those needs and give the users some direction in pursuing further assistance.

My tutorial was designed to teach students how to downsize their large digital photos by decreasing the images' resolutions. However, there was always a chance that a) the student's resolution was correct, but the photo was still too large for web page display, or b) the student changed the resolution according to my instructions but wanted to decrease the photo size even further. It introduced a slightly perplexing situation: Should I just stop there, my purpose having been fulfilled; or as a more knowledgeable person who was trying to give my less experienced users a means to an end, did I have an obligation to give them further guidance? Obviously, I couldn't provide the instructions myself; I had time constraints, not to mention providing my users with more skills would likely lead to more questions. Instead, I searched for the most relevant tutorial I could find for resizing images and linked to it within my instructions, explaining that to further resize a photo required the use of other tools. This way I kept my tutorial restricted to its intended topic, but I didn't leave my users at a dead end.

Analyzing the user's needs and expectations: graphics enhance understanding of visual concepts
During the creation of my web tutorial, I was constantly reminded how important it was to consistently analyze my user and work through the material from his or her point of view. For example, in my efforts to explain the term resolution to my tutorial user as it applies to digital photographs, I also had to define the terms pixel and dots per inch. At first I thought my fleshed-out explanation of resolution was helpful, but after attempting to read over the blocks of text a few times with the mindset of my defined user, I realized that if I knew nothing about pixels or dots per inch, simply reading a definition wouldn't really provide my brain with a firm grasp on the terms because they're visually oriented concepts. Therefore, I would want to see pictures. In response to this realization, I supported my definition of the term pixel with two images: one of a normal photo, and another of that same photo magnified several times to show its individual pixels. This way, my user could actually see the tiny blocks of color I was describing.

The Focused Usability Test Project - Usability testing of technical communication websites: analyzing how websites are tailored for potential users

Contextualizing the Focused Usability Test Project

Learning usability testing in a limited time span
In this project I learned how to test a document's usability, or its effectiveness in helping a user accomplish certain desired tasks. The usability of a document can be tested for such things as structure, information or usefulness; I tested for summative usability, which combined all three. The usability testing assignment was ultimately a way to show that how a document is written is entirely situational, and I did this by testing two undergraduate technical communication program websites to see how they tailored to specific users. Because of time constraints within our class itself, I could not do my testing with the amount of attention and detail that would normally be allotted to a usability test; therefore, the assignment was more of a quick "shootout" in which I tested one user in order to compare two sites and find their strengths and weaknesses in tailoring to that user's wants and needs.

Reflecting on the Focused Usability Project

Usability testing: specifically linking test elements to user's wants and needs produces most effective results
In order for a usability test to be effective in focusing on the important issues for a user class, all components of the test - the background questions, tasks and post-test questions - need to link together to hone in on how effective a website is in fulfilling the user's particular wants and needs. Being new to usability testing, I hadn't quite grasped this concept when I started planning my test questions and tasks. I had questions like, "Is the Internet your primary source of college information, or do you prefer other resources? Which ones?," which might have been a useful question for some users but proved irrelevant for my defined user class. When I realized that I needed to narrow my focus, I looked at my user-specific issues - such as whether a particular major worked with the user's interests and skills - and tailored the questions accordingly. For example, I used "What kinds of writing activities do you engage in at your school?" to gauge the user's skills and interests so I could later tie them in to the information she found on each site.

Unexpected diversions: go with the flow
When I'd drafted my usability test questions and tasks, I had expected my user to follow them accordingly in using the program websites; however, I hadn't anticipated that any of the sites' components would distract her from those tasks. What I discovered was that not only is it entirely possible for the user to get sidetracked, but it can be extremely informative for my study when she does.

Example: although she hadn't been instructed to do so, my user decided to take an "Is Technical Communication right for you?" quiz on one of the sites. Not only was she enthusiastic about taking a quiz in itself, she was even more pleased to find that, according to the results, the field would be a good career path for her. The insight it gave me was a way in which the site had used an interactive tool to link the user's interests with technical communication, and this knowledge gave me material to discuss in my subsequent technical report. I learned that the act of going with the flow and recording her unprovoked activities had the potential to reveal more than the test I'd carefully drafted.