The ebay.com Web site features a unique "show me how" performance support element. When a person clicks the "Show Me How" icon on the details page of an item up for bid, ebay displays the introductory message show in figure 1.  

Figure 1

When a person clicks the Continue graphic in the introductory message box, ebay displays the next in a series of message boxes that describe each data element and field on the page. Figure 2 shows the description for the current bid price for an item. 

Figure 2

Figure 3 shows the description for one of the buttons on an item page. 

Figure 3

Figure 4 illustrates the description for a data entry field. 

Figure 4

You can view how this performance support feature works by going to http://www.ebay.com and viewing the details for an item. Then click the Show Me How" icon.

Unfortunately there does not seem to be a way to display the message for a particular element, such as a data entry field.  

Technical implementation

When a person click the "Show Me How" icons, the browser loads a different version of the page. The new page contains the pop-up messages as hidden elements that are contained within <div> and <span> tags. JavaScript is used to show and hide each element when a person clicks the Continue and Back links.