GUI based application help

I started responding to this article about not include screen shots in GUI documentation. Then I went off topic so I'll just post my thoughts.

The problem of managing screen shots in GUI application documentation has dogged me starting 15 years ago - fresh out of college and a new tech writer.

Creating and maintaining documentation that includes screen shots is a nightmare. I'm surprised that GUI API suites haven't created a tool to make images and image regions structured. Pairing that with an authoring application that understood such structure and could apply style rules to the interaction of the master document's layout could help.

Actually, when you think about it, it's crazy that we document on-screen procedures in a separate paper-document or window. I'm sure those of you who write docs for GUI based applications on a daily basis think about this all the time.

An alternative is for help to be delivered as an overlay/layer over the GUI. that would be sweet.

Anyway what I'm saying is we don't have the tools for the most helpful Help/documentation. It's a minus for the user and tech writer. And that's sad considering that GUI based applications have been in widespread use for 20 or so years.

Maybe someone can point me to a well-woven/efficient application+help example. I'm just not aware of any.

Tools and User Interfaces

Nudged by Tom's post, I have a quick comment on UI awareness.

I find it funny that some software tech writers don't care much about user interfaces and application usability. We should have a keen eye for appreciating and advocating the user's needs. It's not a stretch then to apply these considerations to ourselves!

My cues that people are not paying attention to how they interact with applications can be demonstrated by their browser use. We get to watch others use browsers in all sorts of informal situations. Here are a few behaviors I've noticed that indicate when someone is not attuned to workflow and UI efficiencies; when the question "how can I do this faster or better?" is never asked.

• Using the Bookmarks drop-down menu exclusively - It is tough to imagine that some people haven't noticed the bookmark bar.
  
• One window per webpage - Tabbed browsing was one of the best innovations ever. There have been lots of nice incremental changes, but high praise for this. I still see some users with 12 unique instances of browser windows scattered on their desktop.
  
• Typing "google.com" manually for all searches. It blows my mind to think that some people haven't noticed the search box next to the address box. Excepting that, you would think that users could at least bookmark pages that the visit regularly.
  
• Use of internet explorer - I don't care, and I am not a firefox advocate, but anyone who used IE6 through its darkest days is completely out of touch. 
  

I honestly don't want to sound petty. I believe that GUI-based applications have evolved to a semi-mature level where certain techniques have proven their high worth. When heavy computers users (even if use is only mandated by your job) who should also be attuned to how people use computers don't take advantage of these shortcuts, it shows a lack of a primary skill required for your job (either that or an extreme ability to compartmentalize skills and tasks).

It's like there's a "how can I do it better?" circuit that some people don't have or choose not to develop. If I were hiring, the presence of this facility would be a big hire/no-hire determiner.