User Assistance (UA) is the general term that describes the elements of a user interface that assist the user in achieving their objective which, when you think about it, is pretty much everything on the screen. If you look at UA in these terms, it is an essential component of the User Experience as it defines the size, shape and position of the on-screen elements that will guide the user through the process.
As I have mentioned User Assistance is everything on the screen that assists the user. For the sake of this conversation I am going to define User Assistance as the means of instructing the user on how to perform a task. I will ignore the importance of the size, shape and position of the on-screen elements and assume that they are included in the section on UI design. What I am going to cover is what most people consider as User Assistance, namely the instructions or help text that is included on the screen. There are several types of on-screen help:
As I have mentioned User Assistance is everything on the screen that assists the user. For the sake of this conversation I am going to define User Assistance as the means of instructing the user on how to perform a task. I will ignore the importance of the size, shape and position of the on-screen elements and assume that they are included in the section on UI design. What I am going to cover is what most people consider as User Assistance, namely the instructions or help text that is included on the screen. There are several types of on-screen help:
The type of help you use depends on the knowledge of the user, the importance of the message, or the complexity of the functionality. Most of us ignore instructions or text and simply complete each field. We assume that this UI will act in the same way as other similar UI's and we tend to move blindly through the process and are confronted with a load of errors at the end and hope we are told how to deal with them. When was the last time you looked at a user guide? Most people ever open one of them and my view is that the UX has failed if they have to do so.
Clearly the best measure of good User Assistance is a good User Experience. If the process is clearly mapped out, the user is seemlessly guided through the process, and any instructions are at hand when required then chances are any additional help wil not be used. So the measure of a well designed site is that
In this section I am going to assume that you have gathered the requirements during the analysis of the User Experience and you have an idea about the screen flow, and the content of each screen.
Integated help is an image or text on a page that conveys instructions, advice or information. It may also be used to convey a warning, or emphasise an item on the page and requires no interaction with the user.
Tooltips are actually an important element in the design of a UI, not because they are required as an instructional aid (although that's what they are), but more as an accessibility requirement so the application is stil usable when fonts, colours, images, etc, are disabled. In the past it was prudent to have tooltips on all buttons and images. Nowadays, we use CSS and icon fonts so images cannot be disabled, but tooltips are still included in the accessibility guidelines.
Field level help is predominently used on data input screens and provides users with information and advice about completing a field. Many applications show a question mark button or a little icon beside the field similar that can be hovered over or clicked. This generally opens up a new information window or panel.
On-line help offers additional information and guidance on the product that is not available on-screen. It can be presented in a variety of formats and level of detail.
One of the many skillsets that a good UX Designer will have is an aptitude for technical writing. I started working at my last company as a Technical Author which was very useful as you tend to see everything through the eyes of an end-user. Recent trends in UI Design have certainly neated the need for user guides or online documentation in favour of dynamic content that is governed by a Content Management System.