What Is Context Sensitive Help?

Context-sensitive help, also known as " context-sensitive help ", is a type of online help that provides help information associated with the current location and status of the program. Context-sensitive help provides users with instant help and information without leaving the current work interface.

According to Bri Hillmer's research, context-sensitive help has the following advantages:

1. Many users use less traditional online help.

2. Context-sensitive help is the least disruptive to your workflow, and users do nt need to jump to a new page to view help.

3. Contextual help helps provide users with more effective guidance by providing information specific to the current state or situation of the program.

4. Context-sensitive help is not dependent on screen shots or illustrations and is easier to maintain. ^[1]

   According to Bri Hillmer's research, here are some potential issues with context-sensitive help:

   1. The program contains too much text, which may distract or confuse users.

   2. Context-sensitive help requires development resources, so maintenance costs are higher than regular online help.

   3. Context-sensitive help, especially learning guides, can hinder skilled users.

   4. If the user cannot choose to return in a series of steps, the context-sensitive help (especially the learning wizard) will restrict the user's operation. ^[1]

      Context-sensitive help can be achieved in several ways:

      • Tooltip : Tooltip is the most common form of related help, usually in plain text format;

      • Context-sensitive link : Open the linked topic in a new window;

      • Floating / pop-up elements : can display formatted text, images and links;

      • Help panel : can display more content, UI step-by-step tutorials, and videos;

      • Lightbox (lightbox) effect plug-in : can display multimedia content, support full screen display. ^[2]

        Domain or control-level context: When a user clicks on a control on the screen, a small help prompt appears, usually a short description of the current control.

        Dialog or window-level context: A help window appears. The help window usually contains a description of all the controls on the current screen, links to related topics, and sometimes procedural information or concepts related to the dialog box or screen. ^[2]

        Here is the traditional way to access general (non-embedded) associated help:

        Context-sensitive help help menu

        • The help menu should contain at least the following entries:

        • Entries to open help topic dialog

        • Opens the entry for the help associated with the current window

        • Entry for getting the program into "What's this?" Help mode ^[2]

        Context-sensitive help window and dialog box help

        • Press F1 to open help for window or dialog

        • Each dialog box should have a help button that triggers the same help topic as the F1 key. ^[2]

        Context-sensitive help control help

        • Press Shift-F1 to put the program into "What's this?" Help mode. After entering the help mode, the mouse cursor turns into an arrow with a question mark. Use this cursor to click a control in the interface to pop up the corresponding help content.

        • The title bar of the dialog box and the toolbar of the window (if there is a toolbar) should include a question mark button. This button puts the program into "What's this?" Help mode.

        • Right-clicking a control's pop-up menu should include the "What's this?" Entry, which opens the associated help for the current control.

        • If you choose F1 to open the control help, make sure that all controls are the same. ^[2]