Questions tagged [documentation]
text, usually about how to use a program.
125 questions
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Representing if/else constructs in text documentation
In the documentation for the services I develop and maintain, there is a section where the program execution flow is presented as a numbered list, somewhat like a flowchart.
Here's a silly example ...
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71
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Numbering steps in a way that allows additional steps to be added in the middle later
I'm working on a process map (used by my internal team and our client) where I'm numbering steps that will correspond to rows in a table showing more detail on each of the steps.
Another purpose of ...
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112
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How to minimize the time spent creating UX deliverables?
As a UX freelancer I've found that creating deliverables documenting the research and design process often takes longer than I feel it should.
I was wondering if there are any tips on how to be more ...
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120
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Documenting button interactions
Instead of using "click" or "tap" in my documentation, I use the word "select" to select an option from the menu, buttons, etc. However, I am faced with a situation where ...
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1
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169
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What are some approaches for In-app UX for API documentation?
I’m working on this platform-as-a-service product for developers. We have a web GUI and an API, and I’m trying to think of ways to bring these closer together such that the developers can interact ...
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How to document UI texts?
I'm diving into UX Writing in my company and wondering how to best document the UI texts in our app and portal.
My goal is to have all the UI texts in one place, like a sitemap, where I can easily see ...
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69
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Should PDFs for on-screen reading be split into pages (with a "real" paper size)?
Downloadable PDFs are not a good format for on-screen reading and should be avoided, but sometimes there's nothing we can do about it. That's my case now: I have to design a PDF for on-screen reading (...
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4
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352
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Using "people" vs "users" in online documentation and guidelines
There's a discussion at my office around changing the term "users" to "people" in our online documentation. Some things to know, our online documentation is used primarily by ...
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355
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Can we use the breadcrumbs just like pagination where a user can go back and forth between the pages?
I want the user to be able to go back and forth on any of these pages. And this is all pdf pages, and the important thing is the hierarchy. In the sales order we are informing how much we will charge ...
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Do you have any recurring weekly or bi-weekly methods of sharing updates? What does that looks like?
I don't know how I can easily show ongoing research efforts to the broader team. As I am going about research and not necessarily synthesizing insights just yet, what are some good ways to signal that ...
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1
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88
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Should a SaaS Documentation portal be personalized?
Should a documentation portal for a large SaaS company with multiple applications, that has all the docs for all the apps in one docs portal, switch to a curated/personalized view after a user logs in?...
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Is there a specific name for not getting back to the same content?
So we're working on a new social media app, and when discussing with the team the analysis and insights for different social media sites, we came to this one you can see on several sites,most ...
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What are some creative ways to 'document' UI error messages that are manageable and maintainable for developer handover?
Background
I am a designer working for a large organisation that has thousands of system error codes that are associated with system default error messages.
Sometimes these system default error ...
- 181
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How (and when) do you describe "affordance" in your Interaction Design?
Take the following example of an animation in a webstore.
Say you have to write an Interaction Design document about this. I would imagine it would look something like this (VERY simplified of course)...
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170
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How to represent nested If-Else blocks in documentation?
I want to document a process that has some nested If-Else decision steps. The documentation must be printable, so I don't have a lot of space for proper left indentation to represent the current level ...
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What is the best way for documents- user guides UI (easy navigation, sharing between teams)?
We (IT team) store general user manual about software system as word doc in folders on SharePoint.
Other teams across business adopted the guides to their own business processes and store them only ...
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Correct Terminology for windows: keyboard preferences
This is a UX/documentation issue combined with a "what the heck" windows issue; hopefully this is the right place to post it, I couldn't find a stackexchange site focused on documentation.
In my ...
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200
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How to document continuous usability testing for monitoring over time?
Current situation
Our product is almost being released to the first group of customers after a successful pilot phase. We are regularly performing usability tests. The results are a snapshot in time ...
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For a command to increase something, should instructions refer to the "+" key or the "=" key?
Our software uses the =/+ and -/_ keys for opposite tasks. For example, increasing or decreasing a value, or zooming in or out. No modifier keys are used.
Here is the conundrum:
If we refer to it as ...
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299
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When providing programming documentation to users of an office suite software, does intelligent cell merging in tables, make the info more accessible?
Examples of such merged-cell use, alongside versions of same info without merged-cell use
Info using merged cells
Table 1
Table 2
Same info without using merged cells
Table 1
Table 2
Background
I ...
user127749
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Business Software and Policies/Usage Hints [closed]
We use business software of all kind (CRM, ERP,...). There are lots of things to remember for fluent usage as keyboard shortcuts, company usage guidelines, colleagues hints, software manuals, internal ...
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293
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What frameworks exists for UI documentation?
I´m working on a style guide which I want to put on the web with info, examples etc.
I know there is one API / framework called Fractal, but it does not have the look and feel I want. I see a lot of ...
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270
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How do you describe "animation effects" in your Interaction Design? And in which phase do you do this? [closed]
Question: How and when do you describe the animation effects (or rather gimmicks) in your interaction design?
Description: With animation effects/gimmicks i mean stuff like, "When i hover my mouse ...
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138
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Usability or Accessibility
Overview
I am writing some UX Guidelines for our organization which is a Software as a Service business. Our organization relies heavily on Presentations, Marking Material, as well as our Software.
I ...
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381
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How to describe elements/widgets properly?
We are making widgets for a corporate website and I'm trying to figure out the best way to describe them. Something like writing a documentation.
There are at least 10 of these, but here is one ...
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1
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4k
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Annotating wireframes in sketch - how do you do it? [closed]
I've been using the notebook pro plugin for the past few months, but I'm running into tons of issues. (crashes, random inability to add new comments in larger docs, etc)
What are other techniques for ...
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4
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184
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Tech Writing: What to call list columns?
I'm currently re-writing some software documentation for users, and I'm stuck on how to label the columns on this page, which lists files that you've recently exported from the system, with various ...
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3
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527
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Best way to present and document long screens [closed]
Currently I am using tools like Word, Powerpoint and Keynote to present concepts and specs to stakeholders.
What is the best – or optimal – way to present and document long screens for stakeholders?
...
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240
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Recommended patterns for help cues/hints/documentation
I've been scouring the web, but haven't been finding much with regards to different options on how to present help text and/or documentation. Obviously, there's an established pattern of just having a ...
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How do you manage change of language/terminology in a scalable way for documentation (internal communication)
As UX Designers, we change and create words for things in the UI. Sometimes those are labels, sometimes error messages etc.
I've found it very difficult to keep documentation - say confluence up to ...
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How often should the same hyperlink appear in a document?
I was reading a blog post today that made me question how often a hyperlink to the same content should appear in a document.
In the post, nearly every reference to HDL (with the exception of one ...
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What is the main difference in between a UI KIT and a Styleguide?
We are working on documenting visual design and I wanted to know: what is the main difference between a UI KIT and a styleguide?
Is the difference between them that the styleguide includes design ...
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159
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How to design configurable scripts for non-programmers [closed]
I have a python script that allows users to parse addresses when batch-editing a table.
The script allows the user to choose whether to return the house number or the street name to the field (by ...
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276
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What's worse: no user guide or a useless user guide?
I work on UX team designing a massive, technically-complex, operations application. Difficult enough to comprehend that documentation will help many users, even if the UX is as intuitive and easy to ...
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How should I demonstrate a choice between two options in step-by-step instructions?
I'm writing a step-by-step employee guide for logging into a course management program. I need to demonstrate that one of the steps will differ depending on where the employee is logging in from.
To ...
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557
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Documentation in one page or different pages?
What way should the documentation of a site be, all in one page or split into different pages? Since I think it is relevant, this is my project documentation right now, a library for Node.js ...
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1
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128
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UX documentation
How do you refer to "the user" in your wireframe notes and specs? Do you write it as: "I start typing", or "the user starts typing"? What format do you use? Also, does anybody have any examples from ...
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User experience and Agile Modeling
I have a question regarding architect modeling and how an UX designer can use them to deliver better documentation to the developers/software architects. Has anyone used a component diagram to ...
- 421
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390
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User manual with screenshots for mobile devices?
I'm thinking of a user manual, which documents a web-site-based application.
The manual should introduce and explain the functionality (the various pages) of the application.
The purpose of the ...
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154
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Screen shot of all google.com oneboxes
Can anyone provide the URL for an illustration of an exhaustive set of google.com oneboxes?
Background: Below is a SERP screen shot highlighting google.com's way of grouping content types, which some ...
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3
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What should I call these navigation buttons?
See image below. These buttons used in an application to move between first, last, next, and previous records.
I've seen them referred to as "VCR buttons". As that technology becomes less common (and ...
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367
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Customer Journey testing [closed]
I'm new inside UX/CX design field, and I would like to know more info about customer journey mapping.
I know that this process is to map the current customer journey also emotional mapping to find ...
3
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1
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What are best practices for managing terminology changes in legacy software?
In a big redesign, there can be terminology changes and mapping to backend entities that needs to happen. What are the best practices for doing this? Also, for making documentation consistently ...
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What's the best way to refer to a context menu in documentation?
It used to be that you could tell a user (in documentation or in onscreen prompts) to, let's say, "Click a button, or right-click to display a menu."
Nowadays, there are multiple ways to display a ...
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User Manual vs How-to guide?
I am working on specifying documentation for a soon to be released SaaS tool.
Some parts of it are very technical and will require an in-depth explanation of how it works.
Conceptually I was ...
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Should an API documentation include When-to-use and when-not-to-use list?
The target user base for the problem described below is one of the most neglected and underrated one - Programmers/Developers/Coders.
Consider, for example, this java doc which is explaining about ...
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What is the best way to document/describe a completely new product?
Describing a new feature, optimization, or new section of an existing app for engineering and the product team is fairly solvable. You can build on a specific existing point of reference and user ...
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5
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2k
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How to write a perfect style guide [duplicate]
I'm developing a sort of a theme with a set of pre build components with is such as, styled data tables, input forms and etc... This is developed for internal usage in my company and I would like to ...
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473
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UX/UI Documentation
In the next few weeks I'll be working on a project that teaches students how to program and design apps for Android Wear, tablets, and TVs. I'll be there as a UI and UX consultant, and will have about ...
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Is it okay to have a random "notes" section in your documentation?
I started collecting from users of my project about the problems they face while using it and decided to put it into the documentation. Since right now it's just a single "README" document, I put it ...
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