A New Way of looking at Help
The Windows Mobile 5.0 Documentation is on MSDN, and yes, I admit this is a sub-optimal approach as ideally it should be in the Visual Studio documentation along with everything else. Eventually, we'll get it in there. In the meantime, you need to make MSDN's copy of the docs a bookmark.
So to ease your pain, I've been wondering what we can do to make the docs more usable and discoverable. One idea that occured to me was a change in approach to the idea of a Table Of Contents.
I've a question for you - would you use something like what follows? Your feedback is going to drive this completely, so let me know either with comments or directly to johnkenn at microsoft (the links in this sample should work, by the way).
Upated: As per feedback, I took out the "|"s and yes, it looks much better. And don't worry, this is never going to replace the TOC on the left hand pane.
| Windows Mobile 5.0 SDK Documentation |
Comments
Anonymous
August 25, 2005
Hi, I'm John Kennedy from the Mobile Embedded Division's UA team - in other words, Help files.
I thought...Anonymous
August 25, 2005
I think the new layout is a big improvment - it looks as if it would make it easier to find your place on the contents page after looking at a topic.Anonymous
August 25, 2005
Awesome! Simple but effective. The overview of what's inside is superior compared to the lousy tree-view table of contents approach.Anonymous
August 25, 2005
I assume you're trying to combat the awfulness of the tree interface?
Why not try a paned interface like iTunes? Major topic in the left, minor topic in middle, article in right. Or if there are more than three levels shift everything left as you go down deeper.
That way it is easy to grasp both where you are and what your alternate choices are at the same time.
A great example online is Delicious director.
http://johnvey.com/features/deliciousdirector/Anonymous
August 25, 2005
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August 25, 2005
I really like this. I'm a huge non-fan of the current docs organization. This looks like a major improvement. Two things missing - pure and simple Reference - without the help. Sometimes I just can't remember the name of the item I'm look ing for, but I know its a GDI function or its something in POOM. I'd like to see the reference be more top level so its easy to find in the TOC.
Also, I don't see anything related to POOM in the above. Or a few other key areas... Then again, its 1am here so I may not be thinking clearly.Anonymous
August 25, 2005
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August 26, 2005
I like the concept, I posted my thoughts here:-
http://www.peterfoot.net/MakingTheSDKDocumentationMoreDiscoverable.aspx
However I've just realised what's missing - a section on Telephony - to link through to the TAPI, Phone API, SIM, SMS etc topics
PeterAnonymous
August 26, 2005
If this would replace the toc on page's left side, my advice is: no.
This new toc gives better view on titles, but classic view let you see more nested elementsAnonymous
August 26, 2005
Looks really nice. Seems "lighter" and easier-to-find-contents than MSDN TOC.Anonymous
August 27, 2005
I like the new organizational method. Make it easier to find what you need to know. However, the "|" format underneath the main subject heading isn't that great.Anonymous
August 28, 2005
I think it seems concise and would probably be very usable.Anonymous
August 29, 2005
Wow! Thanks everyone for your feedback. I originally thought no-one had posted anything, until I switched on anonymous feedback option ;-)
This has been very encouraging, and I'm definitely taking this forward to another stage. I should have a nice little surprise ready in a week or so: watch this space.
JohnAnonymous
August 30, 2005
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August 30, 2005
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September 01, 2005
ms-help://MS.VSCC.v80/MS.MSDN.v80/MS.VisualStudio.v80.en/dv_csref/html/98a1d89b-3c5a-44f7-8400-c4a3c0ec22a9.htm
"Seaching the gloabal namespace:"
Since the developers rely on Intellisense, wouldn't it be fair to have english spell checking enabled when writing the comments in the sample code too.Anonymous
September 07, 2005
Hmm, this information does appear to be clearer. Though I am comparing it to the TOC in MSDN online, and it doesn't really seem to map. Is this an organization you made up yourself, or does it map directly to the TOC somehow?
This may be a controversial view, based on some of the other comments :-), but I personally don't really have a problem with the idea of having a TOC. What I have a problem with is that our own TOC is not that easy to navigate. Which of the two is your layout fixing? Could we realize the same benefit just from reorganizing our TOC the way you've organized your topics? Could some of you go into more detail about WHAT you don't like about the TOC?
The other fallacy the TOC runs into is that there is "one view to rule them all." The nice thing about your "start page" kind of view is that we could actually create "start pages" for different audiences. One for OEMs, one for people writing drivers, one for people writing applications, one for end users, etc. It's much more complicated, to have multiple organizations, but could end up making our documentation much clearer. I guess it is equivalent to letting Help users choose between different TOC "views."
Sue LohAnonymous
September 09, 2005
Yes, I just made up the categories.
I absolutely agree mutliple "index pages" like this would be great: one for enterprise, one for games development...
Of course, maintaining index pages is a pain.
The TOC currently reflects a little too much of the internal structure of how the docs are written, and so it also needs a good shake-down.Anonymous
September 21, 2005
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