Cut, Cut, Cut your Content and Procedures
Sure. We’ve been reducing word count in procedures for some time. It’s time to do more, however. As noted in an earlier post, we have to think mobile. Think small screens and small devices. Screen real estate on phones is at a premium.
With that in mind, I’m offering some suggestions on how to cut back. Remember that users are now quite computer-savvy. I don’t think we have to concern ourselves with the level of basic understanding as we did in years past. At this point, I think it’s safe to assume that most everyone has a mobile phone and is accustomed to navigating menus. The Cut and Cut More examples also remove the decision of directing users to either click or tap something to select an item.
Personally, I don’t think it’s necessary to include all the bold type such as that shown in The Old Way example. Those would make the screen too busy, anyway. If you stand back and look at that example, what jumps out at you? Right – the bold type. The main item for each step. You can scan those steps and pull out what you need. When you strip out all the extra wording, you’re left with what was bold in the first place. So why not pull all the extraneous wording? Look at The Old Way bold items and look at the Cut More example. Notice anything? Aren’t they the same?
Update: November 23, 2010: I should have mentioned this before; my apologies to all who’ve commented so far. For this, I assume that the user has the screen and the help topic/page open. So they can see the tabs, buttons, and other items referenced in the help file. Thanks for the excellent points raised in the comments.
Update: December 19, 2016: When I initially wrote this back in 2011, mobile use was not as prevalent as today. Also, responsive design wasn’t yet in use. This was a way to reduce content on mobile screens. It’s still important to design content for a phone first, as mobile use continues to steadily increase. I think this approach is valid today, just as it was when I first wrote this.
The Old Way
1. Settings > Contacts Settings > Update Contact Information
2. Click the Permissions tab.
3. In the Access dropdown list, select Global.
4. Click Save Changes.
Cut
1. Settings > Contacts Settings > Update Contact Information
2. Tab: Permissions
3. Access: Global
4. Save Changes
Cut More
1. Settings > Contacts > Update
2. Permissions
3. Global
4. Save
In the Cut More example, you can see that I dropped some of the menu titles. I know that we’re supposed to write it exactly as it appears. However, if you can drop a word so only the main one remains, then go with it. (Contacts is the main term of Contacts Settings; is the Settings item really necessary? Of course, in such a case, a chat with the developers about a UI change might not hurt either.) It would be a judgement call every time. You’d have to see what other menu or screen items there are to ensure that there’s no confusion. If you can cut it though, do so.
I think that we could at least go with Cut or Cut More, or perhaps a combination of the two. Get out your scissors and get to work. Keep cutting until you get all the way down to the least common denominator (going back to the days when I had to break down fractions).
More
Twitter List: Create (Example)
Minimal Procedure Content: Reasoning