Help on Help on Help on...

While completists might argue that no help system is complete unless it includes information about how to use the help system itself, such a requirement should be regarded as a failure. If users are unable to figure out how to use the help to obtain instructions for their real task (which is never "using the help" by the way), then this likely indicates more troubling problems, such as an overly-complicated user interface or a confusing information design.

The design blog Stuff and Nonsense takes an interesting approach. In addition to Help, they have Help on Help. (Which is in PDF, and requires further help about handling this format.)

Given that none these help pages offer any task-based instruction, I assume this is all a joke, but nonetheless let it serve as a reminder to check your own documentation for similar honeypots, intentional or not.

Posted: August 26, 2009 link to this item, Tweet this item, respond to this item