What is an Interactive Guide

An Interactive Guide is a hypertext window that is embedded within an application. The hypertext documents in the Interactive Guide window can display information about how to use the application or perform a task within the application. With this intrinsic performance support devise, a user can add data or execute commands in the application window, by clicking a hypertext link, graphic or button in the Interactive Guide window.

Interactive Guide Features

  1. A user may be able to display a specific Interactive Guide hypertext document, by clicking a button or pressing a key (e.g. F1) in the application window.
  2. The system may automatically display a Interactive Guide hypertext document when the user performs an action in the application window. These action may including opening a dialog box, entering or exiting a field in a database application or entering invalid information in a data field.
  3. A user may also be able to change the content of the Interactive Guide window, by selecting a next or previous hypertext link in the guide window. That action may also perform some action in the application window. For example, clicking on a "Next field" hypertext link in the Interactive Guide window could move the cursor to the next field in the application window.
  4. A user can add data or execute commands in the application window, by clicking hypertext links, menus or buttons in the Interactive Guide window. This may include copying data from the Interactive Guide window.
  5. A user may be able to click a button or hypertext link in the Interactive Guide window to view a demonstration of an action in the application.
  6. The Interactive Guide can be easily turned on or off by selecting an button or menu option in the application window. In some instances the user may be able to select two version of the program, one with the Guide or one without. A user may also be able to switch to a pop-up mode, where performing an action in the application window (e.g. pressing the F1 key), will pop-up the related Interactive Guide document.

Use of Interactive Guides

  1. An Interactive Guide can be used as an application tutorial. The ipublish program contains a good example of this.
  2. An Interactive Guide can be particularly useful with a database application. Not only can it help a person to learn how to use the application, but it can also provide task related information such as where does one find the information that is required or it can contain the guidelines a person can read..

Examples of Applications with Interactive Guides

A Browser-based Example

EPSScentral contains an online example of browser-based application that contains an Interactive Guide. This example illustrates many of the Interactive Guide features listed above.

ipublish

ipublish is a publishing tool for the desktop that automatically lays out text and pictures. To create a document, you simply add the text and graphic and they choose the layout and format options. When you choose a different layout option, ipublish will automatically make all the necessary changes to your document. The program itself is an interesting study in performance centered software design.

The ipublish control window (the interactive guide) is a Microsoft Internet Explorer object that displays HTML documents and hosts ActiveX components. The control window can display an Internet or Intranet web page.

From the i publish control window, you can add document components or change the format of a document in the right hand section of the screen by clicking on images and links in the HTML page (left hand section). The control window pages provides a more explicit description of a command than would otherwise be available in a menu system or button bar. The Control Window can be used to support learning and then be turned off when the user becomes proficient at using the button bar or menu to execute commands. The Control Window also makes it possible to create a truly interactive tutorial.

Rumba Assist

Wall Data’s terminal emulation program, Rumba, also contains an Interactive Guide that it calls Rumba Assist. With this Interactive Guide, a user can choose to have Rumba demonstrate the procedure for performing a task or simply read the instructions and perform the task themselves. For more information about Rumba see the EPSScentral software review.