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HeuristicExpert heuristicIntermediate

Help and Documentation

Aim for a product that needs no explanation, then write help for the cases where that is impossible.

Definition

Nielsen's tenth heuristic. It is better if the system can be used without documentation, but help may be necessary. Any such information should be easy to search, focused on the user's task, list concrete steps, and not be too large.

Expert heuristic. A review criterion developed by practitioners. Useful and widely taught, but evaluated by judgement rather than measurement.

On this page
  1. Definition
  2. Help is a signal, not just a deliverable
  3. Layers of help, cheapest first
  4. In practice
  5. Sources
  6. Continue from here

Help is a signal, not just a deliverable

A help article that gets heavy traffic is usually pointing at an interface problem. Treat your support search log as a usability backlog: the top ten queries are the top ten things the product fails to explain by itself.

That does not mean help is a failure. Complex domains legitimately need explanation, and documentation for genuinely complex capability is a feature.

Layers of help, cheapest first

  1. 1.Self-evident design: the control explains itself through label, placement and affordance.
  2. 2.Inline hints: persistent helper text under a field, shown before the mistake rather than after it.
  3. 3.Contextual help: an information control that expands in place, without leaving the task.
  4. 4.Task documentation: a searchable article scoped to one job, with steps and screenshots.
  5. 5.Human support: escalation with the context already attached.

Do

  • Keep help in context, so the user does not lose their place.
  • Write for the task, not for the feature. Users search for what they want to do.
  • Include the exact interface labels in the article so search finds them.
  • Track help searches that return nothing, since those are unmet needs.

Do not

  • Use a product tour to compensate for an unclear interface.
  • Bury help behind a chat widget that requires waiting.
  • Write documentation organised by your internal architecture.

In practice

Inline help beats a help centre trip

Complex forms

An expandable explanation next to a tax status field keeps the user in the flow. Sending them to a help centre article loses a measurable share of them permanently.

Support search as a backlog

Product operations

The most searched help topic in a product was how to change the billing email. That is a navigation problem dressed as a documentation need.

Sources

Where a source establishes something narrower than the popular reading of it, the note says so.

Continue from here

Each link says what the connection is, so you can tell a principle from an alternative from a thing people mix this up with.

Why this works

The reasoning this entry rests on.

Applied through

Where this shows up as a concrete interface decision.

Related concept

Connected closely enough to change how you apply this.