Re: Context-sensitive vs. navigational help

[Chris Despopoulos <cud -at- telecable -dot- es>]

Interesting - I understood the problem to be different...  The user (for 
wahtever reason) can only enter help from a screen of the app.  That 
help entry is context-sensitive (well, context specific, actually).  
Once in Help, how does the user know where he/she is, and how he/she got 
to the screen in question? 

Given that, you can post some sort of tree or "path" that shows how to 
get to the screen in question.  This is common in hypertext docs.  For 
example:
New Client -> Nasal Condition -> Left Nostril -> Turbulence

You could go a step further, and have each entry in that "path" actually 
be a link to the associated screen.  And you might consider a place to 
put links to all the topics for screens you can reach from the current 
screen.  Not only does this provide navigation.  The reading experience 
in Help reinforces the user's understanding of the "shape" of the app 
itself.





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