Guided systems versus interactive online help

Author

Westendorp, Piet

Author_Institution

Delft Univ. of Technol., Netherlands

fYear

1997

fDate

22-25 Oct 1997

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

8

Abstract

In this study a guided system for the operation of a telephone system is compared with a system with a command-line interface. The system with a command-line interface was designed with three different online help systems: index-based, context-sensitive and interactive respectively. A user test showed that guided systems are most efficient and command-line interfaces are less efficient for novice users. Additional tests showed that the efficiency of a command-line interface may be improved by adding an interactive online help function. With this function the user can apply the information immediately without remembering it and without leaving the help function

Keywords

help systems; human factors; interactive systems; online operation; technical presentation; telephony; user interfaces; command-line interface; context sensitive help; graphical interface; guided system; index-based help; interactive online help; novice users; telephone system; user test; Computer displays; Control systems; Filling; Graphical user interfaces; Heart; Pressing; Switches; System testing; Telephony; Utility programs;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Professional Communication Conference, 1997. IPCC '97 Proceedings. Crossroads in Communication., 1997 IEEE International

Conference_Location

Salt Lake City, UT

Print_ISBN

0-7803-4184-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IPCC.1997.637024

Filename

637024