Re: [android-developers] Designing Help into Your App

On Thu, Aug 22, 2013 at 5:26 PM, Nathan <nathan.d.mellor@gmail.com> wrote:

On Thursday, August 22, 2013 12:57:08 PM UTC-7, TreKing wrote:

On Wed, Aug 21, 2013 at 6:09 PM, Nathan <nathan....@gmail.com> wrote:

What have you done and how well has it worked?

I have a help section on my site, with subpages corresponding to each major feature in the app. Each activity also has its own page. In the app, I have a utility class that adds a menu option to each activity that links to its help page.

In a fullscreen webview or the browser?

Full screen webview. I wanted it to still feel like it was part of the app and control the URL and title display.
 

Nothing fancy at all. It's there if the user wants it but does take pressing the menu the button to find.

 
I've had questions that indicate, after months of use, certain users have never found the menu button.

My latest 1-star review is exactly that. I can't wait to get around to bringing my app out of the stone age getting rid of it (another one of the priorities that's significantly higher than improving the help system).
 

I've had big ideas for an interactive help system that actually shows the user what they're supposed to do, and how to do it, along with a feature that would track what the user has or hasn't accessed and would to lead them to find it, but that's on the farthest back burner I have.

That's my dream too, and it keeps popping up because, well, I am not convinced that it is not overkill. 

I agree. I think a well-done help system would be pretty sweet. It has that "bells and whistles" feel that indicates a high level of polish, which I think most users would appreciate. Plus, if it can keep the idiots away from rating your app for nonsense, then it's worth its weight in gold :-)

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TreKing - Chicago transit tracking app for Android-powered devices

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