TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Somebody on another forum asked for examples of good online help, and
it took me a couple of weeks of mulling it over before I realized that
the best user experiences I've had in the last couple of years, most
recently from TurboTax and Norton, are less about help and more about
routing you quickly to the right support channel if the built-in
troubleshooting or FAQ can't solve your problem.
Though while I think mass-market UIs are evolving away from online
help, there's still plenty of documentation required for stuff that's
inherently not easy, such as developer tools and servers.
On Mon, Feb 24, 2014 at 10:16 AM, Gene Kim-Eng <techwr -at- genek -dot- com> wrote:
> That's the reason I think "end user documentation" as we know it for UIs is
> on a downward slide toward extinction. The next big evolutionary step from
> desktop is some kind of hands-free interface, and each step in that process
> will require less "end user documentation" as the interfaces become
> increasingly smarter.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Doc-To-Help: new website, content widgets, and an output that works on any screen.