“If you press F1, the Help page opens!” This is the standard expectation with any software today. It’s also expected that this command will not open a vile PDF file containing the entire manual for the software package. The Help function should always provide information about the precise control panel you’re using and your current task. Time-consuming searches in extensive documents, on the other hand, only confuse software users unnecessarily.
Context-sensitive help is therefore now a standard expectation of software users. But what does it actually mean and how is it different from other forms of help? Context-sensitive help is online help that provides information about a user interface element (e.g., a widget, a dialog element, or a menu) or about a task that is performed with this element. It is suitable whenever comprehensive concept knowledge is not important to the target group, and selective, small-scale information is required instead.
Context-sensitive help can either be delivered with the respective software packages or made available online, e.g., in the cloud or in a content delivery portal. Providing the information online is generally better for users since this means, for example, that they can always access up-to-date documentation content. However, it always reaches its limits when software has to be used without internet access or with restricted internet access (e.g., for security reasons).
Context-sensitive help is not only used for software packages. It also assists with the operation of web-based services and with machine displays (known as HMI Human Machine Interfaces).
To ensure that the appropriate help always opens in the software, a number of things must be done in advance. This is because every time the user calls up the Help function, three pieces of information must be taken into account:
1. In which language should the Help function be opened? (Usually decided by the language of the software)
2. Which version of the software is being used? (Development versions and software scope)
3. Which task or user interface description is required at this point?
When the Help function is called on, in order for it to “know” which information is required at this point, unique identification codes (context IDs) must be used to establish the relationship between the software and the Help system. From these codes and the system information, a unique path of directory names and file parameters is then produced, which calls up the appropriate information in each case. In ninety percent of cases, these codes are specified by the software developers and the documentation is adapted to them. The codes can also be specified by the technical writing department. However, editorial reorganizations can lead to complex tasks if, for example, some of the software versions still refer to the old IDs and some already refer to the new ones.
A CCMS like ST4 can make creating context-sensitive help much easier. Every content module (referred to as a node in ST4) can be assigned one or more context IDs as metadata. Several IDs for one content module can be useful if the same information in the software is to be called up from several contexts, for example. Context IDs can be edited in a separate function module of ST4 and displayed both as a sequence of digits and as text. Context IDs as human-readable text can, for example, make quality assurance in software development significantly easier.
Normally, a user interface element will refer to a node. However, it’s also possible to save smaller content modules as fragments and reuse them in different Help files. Conversely, you can also combine several nodes in one Help file and display them for reading bit by bit by means of expandable areas (known as collapsibles). This can be particularly useful for smaller machine displays.
Context-sensitive help has become standard in technical communication for software. With a CCMS, help of this kind can be generated easily and flexibly to produce a variety of use cases. The content management functions of the CCMS allow the relationships between the software and help content to be managed simply and clearly. After all, only the right context makes sense to the user.