steve kwan user experience designer

We'll just explain it in the help.

(April 16th, 2006 - 2:45PM)

"Rule of thumb: when instructions have to be pasted on something (push here, insert this way, turn off before doing this), it is badly designed."
-Don Norman, The Design of Everyday Things

So true...and surprisingly insightful. Whenever I encounter something in our software that's counterintuitive, all too often I'm told that "we'll just explain it in the help."

For anyone who's ever uttered those words, I've got news for you: NO ONE READS THE HELP. That's right, I said it. Help text and manuals are supplements to your interface, not substitutes. If your interface is so haphazard that the only way to make sense of it is by wading through oodles of online help, then you're pawning your usability problems off onto your users. I assure you they won't be happy about it.

Failing to provide a usable interface is no different than failing to implement an important module. In fact, in most projects the interface is far more important than any single function the user may want to perform. If you expect your users to read your online help before they can figure out your software, I encourage you think again.