a contextual help,
a users guide,
a software incorporated help.
1. Contextual help
Add a Label at window bottom,
Add in each Controls MouseEnter and MouseExit code to help the user.
In Control.MouseEnter, you fill your Label.Text with information that will help the user.
In Control.MouseExit, you clear the Label.Text.
2. Users Guide
This is a traditional Users Guide, as pdf (who still print Users Guides nowadays ?).
3. Help incorporated inside the Software
You can do it the way you want. I used a window with an HTMLViewer control and it display the help in html files (styled text and images, and you can also add videos as people loved them).
Of course, it is possible (but takes time) to provide all these help in your applcation
Now, you can ask and the user will read these help ?, but this is a different question or *
This depends on your point of view: because they do not read them and prefer ask you, or because they never ask question(s) AFAIK.
And you, what kind of help system are-you using ?
1, 2, 3, a mix of these or some brand new (if so, care to explain?)
Most of my technical programs require the user to take a course that I have created before the company allows the program to be installed on their computer. Since the information is very detailed, the course is mandatory. The companies believe strongly that mis-use of the programs data can or will cost them, and it is less expensive for the employees to attend a course that I present.
Usually a pdf users guide and a help menu also has extra information that the user can search and review.
The user only uses the guide and help menu for reference, and does not read the entire manual.
I have documentation as html both from within the software and as extra website. Most users don’t read the documentation. However, from the users that do read I get the occasional request for a PDF. The documentation mostly is for me so that I can copy the relevant section when getting support requests.
The software itself has those black windows that were in fashion a couple of years ago. They mostly work but have problems with mouse exit not firing consistently. Thomas Tempelman recently suggested going the old route of having a statusbar with help text.
My very simple videos have a nice number of views. I’m going to do some more of them.
PS: I have done software trainings for 20 years for my old day job. If you think users stay awake long enough to really get what that boring person at the front of the room is talking about think again.
I used that (long time ago) and it bother me: most of the time I had to move the cursor to read the Tag text
Id prefer to use PopOver, but it is not delivered with Xojo (even if Xojo use it). I had the opportinity to use them in html (WikipediA for example, but not only).
BTW: Thank you Markus: your answer is far better than mine. (I had the troubles with ListBox; it was really far far a go !)
What about including in the “Help” menu an entry pointing at your website with Tutorials videos? Is not as direct as the other already mentioned but, depending the kind of app or feature to explain, I think it’s always better to see how something works specially for complex features or operations.
There is another help I forgot; specific help where the developer thinks it is needed.
a i icon in a blue background circle: in critical / specific part of the interface; I think sometimes it is valuable to have the information handly (when the developer think it is a user must have)
I have a feature in a project where I can master dates (in a Listbox column): set the dates to ISO 8601. I recently needed to do that and I totally forgot how to do what I wanted ! So, I need to implement that (for me ! a real shame; think at the user who do not have a single idea on how the feature was implemented !!!).
No more idea ? No more experience to share ?
(no need to be too specific, great lines are enough, IMHO)
It’s like when the weather forecast comes on the radio, I think I must listen to this but then they start with some meta stuff and my mind wanders and next thing is it’s over and I realise I wasn’t listening.
I remember when starting a customized software project, according to the client, documentation and helpfiles were usually required and naturally. But after so many years I can say we never wrote any documentation since it was always exchanged against additional functionality or budgetary overruns. This is common practice I believe.