1. Organizing Help Content: Breaking Out of Topic-Based Hierarchies STC Webinar. Dec 1, 2011 Tom Johnson idratherbewriting.com @tomjohnson

2. THE PROBLEM

3. Where would you find this in a grocery store? Image from TradeKoreaTradeKorea Next to the coconuts? Next to the cream? In canned goods? In the dessert section? In the ethnic food aisle?

4. Topics frequently overlap. lays eggs venomous beaver’s tail otter feet duck’s bill Image from WikipediaWikipedia

5. There isn’t an absolute order to find Radiolab excerpt Image from WikipediaWikipedia

6. Each contributes toward the solution

7. SEARCH

8. Google works. Why not imitate it? immediate trust intuitive to use users prefer this method

9. SEO Factors to Rank High on Google The number of links pointing to your site The authority of the sites linking to you The text used in the links linking to you The frequency of the keywords, especially in the title, first paragraph, and h1, h2, h3 tags Your own site’s Pagerank

10. Problem: Google has armies of authors.

11. Search Algorithms Differ WordPress: Sorts based on date. SharePoint: Defined by search scope settings. Mediawiki: Results segmented by namespaces. Author-it: Change and changing are not the same. Flare: Exact matches rank extremely high.

12. Search fails when users don't know exact terms. From Donna Spencer’s Practical Guide to Information ArchitecturePractical Guide to Information Architecture

13. Search fails to help you discover unknown unknowns. “There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we now know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. These are things we do not know we don’t know.” -- Donald Rumsfeld, qtd. by Peter Morville

14. Youtube video link

15. METADATA

16. Digital spaces allow near infinite rearrangements See David Weinberger’s Everything Is Miscellaneous

17. You can create navigation filters based on your content’s facets. Image from gwilmore on Flickrgwilmore on Flickr

18. You can push and pull topics in various arrangements through metadata.

19. “Faceted navigation is arguably the most significant search innovation of the past decade.” –- Peter Morville, Search Patterns

20. Two Types of Entry Points Dynamic NavigationStatic Navigation

22. Example from Sarah Maddox/Matthew EllisonSarah Maddox/Matthew Ellison

24. You can choose different entry points into the content.

25. Different entry points into the content.

26. To facilitate multiple arrangements, you have to chunk your content.

27. The Alarm Clock Metaphor Metaphor from Mark Baker’s blog, Every Page Is Page OneEvery Page Is Page One

28. First break content into small chunks…

29. But only if they have meaning alone.

30. I chunked up my content.

31. I added metadata.

32. I inserted metadata into each topic.

33. I ran the queries based on metadata.

34. I gave users navigation options.

35. New problem: Everything is a list

36. Our tools aren’t capable of the task Skyscrapers by freevector

37. INTERFACE TEXT

38. Principles for Interface Text Clarity: Focus efforts on fuzzy words. Is it the right word for the context? Position: Group the text close to the action the user will perform. Convention: Follow standards for names and locations. Error Messages. Make messages informative. Brevity: “Too much text discourages reading” (MSDN).MSDN

39. Context-Sensitive Help No need to leave task at hand immediate findability jquery

40. Problem: Forest vs. Tree View Forest overview image from Flickr Tree from alantankengoe Flickr

41. Problem: UI Text Annoys Advancd Users Interface text addresses first-time needs, then gets in the way for experienced users.

42. INDEXES

43. Indexes Image from ACJI on Flickr familiarity leverages synonyms effective

44. Alternative Indexes

45. Problems with Indexes Studies show people prefer to search. Indexes are tedious and hard to create. You need a HAT to keep it synchronized.

46. QUICK REFERENCE GUIDES

47. Quick Reference Guides minimalist just enough to get started users not overwhelmed simple 80/20

48. Problems with Quick Reference Guides Solves first-time need only Content irrelevant until user gets into interface Potentially creates another version of the source Layout intensive

49. PERSONALIZATION

50. Personalization Reduces scope of content speaks directly to user all relevant content

51. Problem: Authentication System must have a way to identify the user’s role. Tough to authenticate users seamlessly. Overlapping roles make it difficult to select the correct role for users.

52. TAGGING

53. Tags and Categories Group content in more than one place web standard flexible

54. Problem: A Flat File Structure

55. ALTERNATIVE LEARNING MODES

56. Video Visual learners interactivity necessary for learning makes sense

57. Beginning to End Scenarios

58. Problems with Videos Not easy to search and skim for information. Almost impossible to translate. Video narration doesn’t appear in searches unless you include a transcript below the video. Expensive to create and maintain. Requires skills that go beyond the training of most technical writers.

59. LEVEL-BASED LEARNING

60. Learn to crawl before you walk acknowledges cognitive sequence follows natural learning models From Kathy Sierra, Creating Passionate Users

61. Problems with Level-based Organization Requires sophisticated planning to leverage content re-use. Information isn’t all in one source. Assumes your audience has patience to be in a learning mode.

62. USER RESEARCH

63. Card Sorting Photo from Rosenfeld Media on Flickr

64. Affinity Diagrams See LDSTech See LDSTech for more details. Photos from LDSTech.

65. Surface the overall messages See LDSTech See LDSTech for more details. Photos from LDSTech.

66. Treejack Method: Where would you go to find information for this task? Image from Optimal Workshop

67. Is Findability “Solvable”? “Different people see the world too differently for us ever to solve findability. Finding the information you need will always be work. It will always be a skill that people have to learn. We can help, but we cannot solve. Our efforts in the field of findability ought to be focused not on achieving perfect effortless findability (which is unattainable) but at easing the work of finding that the user has to do for themselves.” -- Mark Baker, Every Page Is Page OneEvery Page Is Page One

68. The Problem May Be the Mindset Pythagoras image from Wikipedia. Stellar image from NASA Jet Labs Database.

69. Contact Information Tom Johnson Blog: Idratherbewriting.com Email: tom@idratherbewriting.com Twitter: @tomjohnson