Context-sensitive help, also known as "
context-sensitive help ", is a type of online help that provides help information associated with the current location and status of the program. Context-sensitive help provides users with instant help and information without leaving the current work interface.
According to Bri Hillmer's research, context-sensitive help has the following advantages:
Many users use less traditional online help.
Context-sensitive help is the least disruptive to your workflow, and users do nt need to jump to a new page to view help.
Contextual help helps provide users with more effective guidance by providing information specific to the current state or situation of the program.
Context-sensitive help is not dependent on screen shots or illustrations and is easier to maintain.
According to Bri Hillmer's research, here are some potential issues with context-sensitive help:
The program contains too much text, which may distract or confuse users.
Context-sensitive help requires development resources, so maintenance costs are higher than regular online help.
Context-sensitive help, especially learning guides, can hinder skilled users.
If the user cannot choose to return in a series of steps, the context-sensitive help (especially the learning wizard) will restrict the user's operation.
Context-sensitive help can be achieved in several ways:
Tooltip : Tooltip is the most common form of related help, usually in plain text format;
Context-sensitive link : Open the linked topic in a new window;
Floating / pop-up elements : can display formatted text, images and links;
Help panel : can display more content, UI step-by-step tutorials, and videos;
Lightbox (lightbox) effect plug-in : can display multimedia content, support full screen display.
Domain or control-level context: When a user clicks on a control on the screen, a small help prompt appears, usually a short description of the current control.
Dialog or window-level context: A help window appears. The help window usually contains a description of all the controls on the current screen, links to related topics, and sometimes procedural information or concepts related to the dialog box or screen.
Here is the traditional way to access general (non-embedded) associated help:
Context-sensitive help help menu
The help menu should contain at least the following entries:
Entries to open help topic dialog
Opens the entry for the help associated with the current window
Entry for getting the program into "What's this?" Help mode
Context-sensitive help window and dialog box help
Press F1 to open help for window or dialog
Each dialog box should have a help button that triggers the same help topic as the F1 key.
Context-sensitive help control help
Press Shift-F1 to put the program into "What's this?" Help mode. After entering the help mode, the mouse cursor turns into an arrow with a question mark. Use this cursor to click a control in the interface to pop up the corresponding help content.
The title bar of the dialog box and the toolbar of the window (if there is a toolbar) should include a question mark button. This button puts the program into "What's this?" Help mode.
Right-clicking a control's pop-up menu should include the "What's this?" Entry, which opens the associated help for the current control.
If you choose F1 to open the control help, make sure that all controls are the same.
