What is help authoring?

The simple answer to this question is simple: Help authoring is the production of the interactive online help for a computer application. Sometimes it also involves the production of the printed manual, "readme" files, marketing information and so on. However, if you take a closer look you will find that there is much more to it.

Producing online help is much more than just sitting down and writing about a program.

Help authors who do their job properly are actually much more than just writers. Ideally they should be involved in the testing of the application right from the very early stages. Often, a good help author will actually contribute to product quality and usability by making suggestions on the basis of his or her experience with testing and learning the application.

The help author brings a unique perspective to the project.

Unlike the programmers, who are generally joined to the program at the hip, the help author has a user's viewpoint. In order to be able to produce the help the author must learn to use the application from scratch, just as the users will later. This process almost always reveals pitfalls, problems and missing functions that would never have occurred to the programmers, simply because their perspective is so different.

Help authoring is a creative educational process.

Have you ever seen a help system that just consisted of a list of functions with definitions? You may have found entries like, "The Print function enables you to print your documents." Or, "The widget corroborator is the function with which you can corroborate your widgets." Great, huh?

Was it fun using that help system to learn how to use the program? Was the help helpful? Probably not.

A good help system basically does two things:

1. It guides the user through the gradual process of learning the application, making allowance for users with different skills and existing knowledge.

2. It provides a reference resource where the user can find answers to questions and solutions for difficulties that can crop up while using the program in increasingly advanced ways.

The level of detail provided will vary depending on the nature of the application and the documentation budget. Some applications, particularly those like creative tools for producing graphics, web pages, videos and so on, can never be covered exhaustively. At the other extreme are applications that are so simple that you really just need to provide the basics.

No matter where your program is on this spectrum, the help system should always enable most users to learn and use the program without consulting your support hotline.