Help!

Two principles best describe how people use Help:

• People don’t go to Help unless they feel stuck.
• People stay in Help only until they feel unstuck.

"Users do not remain in online Help for long periods of time. So, not only must Help topics be modular and self-contained, elements within topics must be directly accessible and self-contained as well. Procedural information must accommodate a reader, for example, who has already figured out how to complete steps 1 through 4 before ever going to Help and would be discouraged from continuing to read the Help if she felt she must wade though instructions on how to do stuff she has already done or information she already knows."

Link: Procedures: The Sacred Cow Blocking the Road
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