IWRITE FOR APPLE HOW TO

When writing a guide, less is usually more. The user is normally reading your guide in order to do a specific task, one that may be urgent, and may be impatient with more than the minimum of needed information. Focus on getting back on the track of instruction, rather than on giving the user additional background.Pull down the File menu and choose the Page Setup item.' If the previous panel said 'Choose Page Setup from the File menu', a helpful Oops panel might read 'The Page Setup dialog must be open before you can continue. Phrase the step a little differently, giving more help with the details. If you're correcting a failure to complete a step, don't copy the instructional wording you used on the previous panel the user may not have understood it.Make the Oops panel's wording as neutral as possible instead of 'You did not do the step correctly', use 'The dialog box must be open before you can continue.' The first wording can intimidate a user who's already uncertain the second focuses on the needed condition rather than the user's failure.(Take a look at Apple Guide Complete for another example.) Format the panel so it's obvious that there's a problem.No matter what the cause of the problem is, there are some general guidelines that apply to any Oops panel:

IWRITE FOR APPLE HOW TO

Your Oops panel should tell the user how to fix the setup so the task can be done. For example, a needed control panel may be missing or inactive. In this case, your Oops panel needs to tell the user how to get back into the necessary context before proceeding. One of the most commonly-seen reasons is the user clicking the desktop and switching to the Finder. The user may have moved to an incorrect context.Your Oops panel needs to reiterate this step. The user may have failed to complete a step - for example, if the user didn't open a dialog box, and your next panel requires that the dialog box be open.This problem may be due to a number of reasons, and your Oops panel should be worded appropriately for each: To use, you specify a condition if that condition isn't met, then Apple Guide presents the user with a special panel, called an Oops panel.Ī helpful Oops panel is aimed at assisting the user to correct the problem. How do I create sidebars and notes in a guide?Īpple Guide offers a construct called to let you ensure that your instructions will make sense in the user's current context. How do I create an Apple Guide if I'm not a programmer? How do I decide whether to use Apple Guide for my project? Apple Guide FAQ | Writing Oops Panels Jeanne's World

Iwrite for apple