online help


online help

On-screen instructions for using software that is immediately available within the application or from a website. Users in general, and particularly first-time users, are always complaining about the quality of online help. For decades, no matter how big or small the company, online help has been spotty at best, if not downright useless. Quite often, help on the vendor's website is not up-to-date, and because it refers to a previous version, it only adds confusion.

Online Forums
The many user forums and articles on the Web are often more beneficial than the official help in the application or on the vendor's site. Perhaps this is one of the reasons software publishers put so little effort into their own help. They know that the user community will eventually do it for them even if people have to wade through dozens of postings to find the answer. See first-time user, help system and RTFM.