Improving Information 'Findability'

One of the major complaints from users of today's documentation is that it's difficult, sometimes impossible, to find the information one seeks.

Technical Writers are accutely sensitive to this criticism because they typically work hard to understand and explain a product's features, which often change until the product's release date. By focusing on completeness, most Technical Writers neglect accessibility — that is, they don't make information easy to find. Until recently, Technical Writers compensated by creating an index to identify the product's key features and functions, and refer readers to the most relevant content.

Today, most reference documentation is released only in electronic form. Technical Writers are busier than ever keeping up with product changes, and frequently don't index their work at all. They and their management rationalize that online search tools make indexes redundant — Google or Yahoo can return hits far faster than reading the documentation (if you can even find the relevant documentation to read).

But indexes remain relevant for two reasons.

First, the information returned by a search engine matches only the literal string for which you search. You won't get any results at all if you specify the wrong search term, either because you didn't know the correct one or because the specific term doesn't appear in the document. For example, if you need help with printing and search for "printing", you won't find the section on "how to print" and may instead find either nothing at all or information that is completely irrelevant to your needs.

Second, search engine results often don't provide sufficient context, so even a "direct hit" for your search term may prove useless because, using the above example, the information related to "printing" may vary depending on which operating system you're using or which device you're printing to. In this context, index entries such as "Printing, under Linux" and "Printing, under Windows" would save you time and money.

Zero-Search-Time Help to the rescue

Zero-Search-Time Help is your answer. It is a unique, proven technique for reducing to less than 25 seconds (<25 sec) the time it takes any user to find appropriate information about any feature or function in a product reference document at least 80 percent (80+%) of the time.

Why is this significant? Because your product's users probably waste much more than 25 seconds each time they learn to use a new feature, and you can slash your company's Support costs if your documentation is consistently accessible and accurate.

Both your online help and your documentation (printed or electronic) can benefit dramatically from the Zero-Search-Time technique. At the most basic level of ZST implementation, when index entries consistently identify first the object of the action, then the action itself — for example, "file, transferring to a web site" and "web site, transferring a file to" — your users find what they want more quickly and query your documentation more often. Even better, they place fewer calls to your Support department and start saying good things about your company and its products.

The rest of the ZST Help story

There's a lot more to ZST Help than a new method of indexing. It is a way to reduce redundancy, streamline procedures, consolidate related information, and optimize information for accessibility. When applied rigorously, documents become shorter, simpler, more accurate, and cheaper to maintain, translate, and localize.

For all the details about Zero-Search-Time Help, and its guarantee — that at least 80% of the time your users will be able to find instructions for tasks they want to perform in less than 25 seconds, or your money back — see this site or send email to Pete Schorer.

. . . . . .