STC Usability SIG Newsletter
Usability Interface

Designing Online Help for Pocket PCs

By Prashant Natarajan

Advances in technology in the last ten years have created an emerging category of portable online computers (Pocket PCs or PPCs) that offer a wide range of product features comparable to Personal Computers (PCs). Improvements in PPC hardware specifications and the growing numbers of compatible software applications are resulting in an increased (and multi-faceted) user base. Increasing technical capabilities, advanced product features, and a diversified user base are creating new challenges to design online Help systems that can satisfy user needs and requirements effectively.

Online Help, an integral component of software products, is probably the most useful user assistance system. End-users rely on online Help to find conceptual ("What is it"), procedural ("How to") or reference ("Where do I go from here") information for software or hardware features. This article examines the current state and design of online Help systems in PCs and PPCs.

While designing online Help for PPCs, information developers are forced to deal with several technical considerations and usage patterns. Some technical considerations include the limited screen area, low resolution, limited storage space, and primitive online Help authoring tools. In addition to these issues, information developers must also design online Help systems for a diverse population of users who are familiar with online Help as it appears on PCs today. An analysis of the similarities and differences between online Help in PCs and PPCs will allow information developers to effectively design PPC online Help based on task analysis, audience analysis, context of use, and usability.

For the sake of consistency, this article uses the term PPC to refer to Pocket PCs that use Microsoft’s Windows CE operating system. The term PC refers to desktop or notebook computers that use other versions of the Windows operating system as Windows 98, Windows 2000, and Windows XP. Computers that use Palm OS are not included in the scope of this article.

Accessing Online Help

Software applications designed for PCs usually contain both general (non-context-sensitive) and context-sensitive online Help systems. General online Help systems consist of a single compiled online Help file, which contains a table of contents and an index, and accessible from the Help menu in a software program (Figure 1).

Figure 1. General Online Help in PCs

In PPCs, there is no general online Help. When clicked, the Help menu displays a context-sensitive Help window and the information in this window always relates to the active screen that the user is working on (Figure 2). Topics cannot be called for a specific option or field in a form in PPCs, as they can in PCs.

Figure 2. Context-sensitive Help in PPCs

Table 1 shows a comparison of online Help features that are currently available in PPCs and PCs.

Screen Size and PPC Online Help

Information developers of online Help for PPCs must be able to create usable and user-friendly online Help while simultaneously overcoming various limitations caused by the limited screen size and associated technical drawbacks. The limitations imposed by the PPC screen size include:

• Resolution – The difference in screen sizes in PCs and PPCs has a significant impact on the resolution. A typical PC screen size (diagonal) ranges from 14 to 21 inches while a PPC screen measures 3.7 inches. The available screen resolution in the PPC drops to 240 x 320 pixels from the standard 1024 x 768 pixels in the PC (Hayhoe 3).
• Scrolling – Due to the smaller screen size compared to PCs, PPCs require more scrolling for the same amount of text. Hayhoe states, "[Jones and others] found that reading text from Web pages on a screen with 640 x 480 resolution reduced user effectiveness by 50% compared to reading from displays with higher resolution because of the increased amount of scrolling necessary" (4). Online Help must be designed so that information is immediately available on user request. Fatigue caused by the limited screen area and an ineffective online Help system can affect user performance and satisfaction.
• Graphics – Although PPCs allow the use of graphics, the limited PPC screen area controls the number and size of graphics that can be viewed at a given time on the screen. Due to this limitation, the use of screenshots, charts, and pictures in PPC online Help should be kept to the bare minimum.

Design Challenges

The range of features offered by PPCs is limited compared to PCs. Information developers cannot apply the same principles for developing online Help in PPCs and PCs because of technical limitations and hardware considerations. Design factors that influence online Help design in PPCs include topic size, navigation and orientation, arrangement and formatting, searching patterns, online reading behavior, and context of use.

Topic Size

Design limitations restrict the number of words in a PPC online Help topic from 50 to 75. The principles of visual chunking are limited not by the content but rather by the topic’s word count. The reduction in the topic size also places severe limitations on the amount of conceptual, procedural, and reference information on the display in a PPC screen.

Navigation and Orientation

For an online Help system to be usable and effective, information developers must use orientation and navigation elements to ease the task of finding online information. Navigation aids improve document usability and user performance. Orientation aids provide a constant frame of reference within the online Help system and allow the reader to find information, process it, and return to the task at hand.

Navigation elements include table of contents, index, full-text search, hyperlinks, and cross-references. Orientation elements include headings, books and levels in the table of contents, levels in the index, and Help topic and word-level formatting.

The table of contents in a PPC online Help system consists of a set of links arranged in a single-level list. Other online Help elements common in PC online help are absent on PPCs, such as pop-ups, See and See Also links, and indexes. Navigation functions in PPCs are limited to: View, Back, Forward, and Find.

Arrangement and Formatting

Arrangement and formatting options in PPCs are constrained by:

• The limited set of typefaces and sizes supported by the Windows CE operating system
• Word-level formatting constraints (bold, italics, and high color might cause problems at a low-resolution)
• The absence of Dynamic HTML and JavaScript capabilities, which prevents information developers from using various bells and whistles like expanding pop-ups or right-click menu options

User Behavior and Usage Patterns

Albers and Kim state, "(to the PDA user) the information content is the system" (51). The designers of online Help should be able to predict the user’s context of use and provide the right information that allows the user to complete a task. In a PPC online Help system, the small chunks of information force the user to spend more time in finding, reading, and assimilating the same amount of information as compared to the substantially larger user interface of the PC.

PPC users demonstrate a searching behavior where they try to find answers to problems. However, the search mechanism in PPC online Help has limited functionality and does not support full-text search. As a result, PPC users must define their search criteria carefully; PPC users cannot use ill-defined search patterns where they have only a vague notion of the end goal. They cannot continually redefine the search criteria based on the results of the ongoing search process to obtain the desired information.

Online Help in PPCs presents information in a linear structure. In a linear design, the number of levels (or depth) at which information is located is minimal and users access the target online Help topics through first-level hyperlinks. Research by Sprujit and Jansen shows that the linear hypertext format used in PPC online Help replicates online reading behavior, supports faster reading, and is conducive to performing a specific, information-gathering task.

Current Status

Considering the many design challenges and technical limitations, the development of online Help in PPCs has come a long way. However, this area of user assistance is still evolving and has tremendous potential for new features and new delivery methods. New technology initiatives will allow information developers to create more responsive, effective, and usable online Help systems. Alternative media like video, voice, and Internet delivery can be used to support the current online Help system.

Recent models of PPCs allow synchronization of video files between a PC and a PPC. Improved storage and memory capabilities also allow users to download and run video files on their PPCs. Procedural information can be delivered via video clips and the PPC online Help can be used in support for presenting conceptual and reference information. Context-sensitive video can be also be used in conjunction with voice to provide information that perfectly meets the user’s requests in a given context.

PPCs now offer sophisticated and fully functional support for media files. Though the use of videos as an alternative medium for delivering online Help is still limited by current file size restrictions, video-based user assistance might help information developers overcome the design limitations in PPCs. Delivery of information through the use of sound-only files is another promising medium for presenting conceptual or procedural information. However, like video files, the use of sound files is still limited by current file size restrictions.

The Internet can be used to support users by facilitating access to additional information that is not available in the PPC online Help. Information developers can use the wireless Internet capabilities in PPCs to create multiple levels of user assistance. Users can also access video and sound files, which cannot be stored on the PPC due to storage and memory limitations.

Conclusion

The design and development of PPC online Help systems is still in its nascent state. It is also useful to note that, at present, there is very little empirical research and data on design and usability of PPC online Help systems. However, information developers must continue to strive for the same levels of comfort, reliability, efficiency, and usability that are offered to users of today’s PC-based online Help systems. Converging technologies such as video, voice, and Internet may hold promise to help information developers improve the usability of online Help in PPCs.

Acknowledgements

I thank Dr. Elizabeth (Betsy) Overman Smith of Auburn University for her advice and feedback. In addition, I wish to express my gratitude to Rachel Kennedy (who provided input on accessibility issues and options), the peer reviewers, and the editor.

Final Note

Though the scope of my discussions has been quite basic, I understand that in the absence of a "touch/feel" interface, visually challenged users need to rely on others for assistance. Memory and feeling/touching, compensatory mechanisms for the visually challenged, cannot be easily extended to the Pocket PC interface. Screen readers are now available for pocket PCs but they are very expensive.

Sound might be a feasible option for physically challenged users. Such an option can be implemented by associating a sound (.wav or MP3) file with the associated help topic, and the user can then access the information. Interaction with the system through a voice-based option might also provide the input mechanism.

I believe that these accessibility options need further exploration; however, the pocket PC remains a challenging environment for physically challenged users (especially the visually challenged).

Works Cited

1. Albers, Michael J. and Loel Kim. "An Overview of Web Design Issues for Personal Digital Assistants." Technical Communication 49.1 (2002): 45-60.
2. Buckley, Susan. "Microsoft Windows CE Help for the Pocket PC 2002." MSDN Online Library. 29 Oct. 2003. 
3. Hayhoe, George F. "From Desktop to Palmtop: Creating Usable Online Documents for Wireless and Handheld Devices." Proceedings of the IEEE International Professional Communication Conference., 24-27 Oct. 2001. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Online Publications: Professional Communication Society, 2001.

Works Consulted

Albers, Michael J. and Loel Kim. "Web Design Issues When Searching for Information Using Handheld Interfaces." Technical Communication 49.3 (2002): 314-329.

Geisler, Cheryl. "When Management Becomes Personal: An Activity-Theoretic Analysis of Palm Technologies." Writing Selves/Writing Societies: Research from Activity Perspectives. Eds. Bazerman, Charles and Russell, David. 2003. Colorado State University. 20 Oct. 2003 <http://wac.colostate.edu/books/selves_societies/geisler.html>.