[Sigia-l] Differentiating between a 'wizard' and 'help'

[Dan Saffer]

As I have used the terms, a "wizard" breaks down a complicated task
(installing software) into several distinct tasks, some of which have
default choices selected. A wizard is an interaction design tool. (A
tool that can be easily abused.)

Help, on the other hand, is a type of content, which can contain a list
of the tasks that could be performed by a wizard (eg "How to install
your software"). 

How the two work together would depend on a lot of things, but probably
having links from help to a related wizard is not a bad thing. 

The reverse is probably not true though. If your wizard requires its own
help, that's probably not so good. Wizards should probably be designed
to be self-contained entities that have enough instructional copy built
in for users to successfully step through the tasks.

The tone of the copy in the wizard doesn't have to be different from
that of help, unless you are going to give your wizard a personality (a
la Microsoft's talking paperclip). Some people find that annoying. :)

In my humble opinion, wizards are more powerful and effective (also
potentially dangerous) tools than help (although admittedly more
cumbersome and difficult to develop) and should be used *where
appropriate* instead of help. It's much easier to step through a wizard
to install your software than to read about how to do it, then attempt
it, flipping back and forth between the two screens.

By appropriate, I mean sparingly and not for activites that are done
very often. Imagine having to use a wizard each time for sending an
email... (To: <next screen> From: <next screen> Subject <next screen>).
In those cases, a help file is probably a better solution.

And, of course, the best case scenario is to design so that users don't
need help or wizards. :)


dan saffer  .  sr. interaction designer
ameritrade  .  dsaffer at datek.com