Don't be afraid to ask for HELP!

by Kera McHugh, of somethingelse web+graphics

Have you ever wondered what lies beneath the "Help" menu in your favorite software?

Did it ever occur to you that perhaps something USEFUL might be there?!

Help Menus were created to do exactly what their name implies - HELP you... help you work smarter, accomplish tasks more easily, and take the guess work out of how to get the job done.

Help Menus were NOT created to take up space on your hard drive and give you something to scoff at while plotting when to throw your monitor out the window...

NOW... not all help menus are created equal... that is for certain. Some actually DON'T help, but for the most part, you will at least be able to ascertain if the software you're using can do the job you're planning... so how do you get the help you need?

USING Help Menus

In the more current software (released in the past 3-4 years) Help Menus have a few different options for finding information - content lists, indexes, tutorials, popup menus... how do you use those?

Content lists and indexes are often found in the same place... basically, it's two ways of finding the information - left and right brained, almost... one offers you common references or FAQ's (frequently asked questions) in plain language with great variety in the length of the answer... That's a content list. The other gives you an alphabet and you guess the term that the software uses to describe what you're after. Usually that's straightforward, like a dictionary or yellow pages, but sometimes that can be a little frustrating - particularly when you're dealing with an unstandardized package that has made up their own terms to avoid copyright infringement... that's an Index List. Plain to see why they're often presented together... USE THEM TOGETHER and you'll get results.

Tutorials are a little more specialized... they SHOW you how to perform a certain function, or complete a task, or achieve a desired outcome... whatever... they can be as simple as a step by step instruction book, or as involved as an animated, interactive lesson... either way you'll be taken through the process and hopefully by the end of the tutorial you'll know what to do.

Popup menus are the little boxes that appear beside your mouse if you hover it over something long enough. Now, not everything on your screen will have a popup menu or description, but many will. PAY ATTENTION to these... they were not created because the programmer was bored... they're there for your benefit. Very often, popup menus will work in combination with status bar messages (bottom of your workspace window) to give you instant, condensed help info. These are more common in grapic software, when you have many options for some buttons, but you'll see them in a lot of Windows(tm) based packages.

There's one other that's unique to the warped minds of Microsoft(tm)... and that's their animated "Assistants"... if you haven't looked into those yet, they're good for a laugh... some of them are quite entertaining, but they take up valuable RAM, and usually it's faster to get the answer you want from the help menu. Einstein is my personal favourite, but there's Mother Nature and a funny little array of computer generated personalities.

So... don't be afraid to ask for help... other great sources of help are the people around you... at work or home... who use the same software... chances are good they've learned a trick or two and you can swap stories...

Kera is the creator and owner of somethingelse web+graphics in the beautiful Sunshine Coast of Canada. She does everything from websites to print to bring her clients in the speaking and entertainment industries integrated creative promotional materials. In her spare moments, she tends her garden, does a little theatre and is a proud cadet mom to her amazing teenager. Find her online at http://www.time4somethingelse.com
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