From the reader's perspective, a Help system incorporates some or all of the following five elements:
|
Topics |
A set of "pages" containing static text and graphics. |
|
Contents |
A hierarchical view, or outline, of the entire Help system. |
|
Index |
A searchable list of keywords, each of which corresponds to one or more topics. |
|
Navigation |
A mechanism for accessing topics sequentially or by subtopic. |
|
Hypertext |
Interactive elements that link individual words and phrases with other topics or topic groups. |
Note that this definition of a Help system doesn't presume a particular platform or even a computer! A printed manual is a Help system of sorts, as it has a set of topics, a table of contents, an index, and navigation (via your thumb and forefinger). A typical home page on the World Wide Web doesn't have a site map or a searchable index, but may include hyperlinks to other "Help topics" or a navigation sequence that steps through a set of vacation photos or baby pictures.
More:
Topics Defined