Use Simulator vs. Manuals and User Guides
Use Simulators are very different from our familiar manuals and user guides in the way they answer the two fundamental questions:
• What is this?What is this?
How do I ... ?
When you look at an application's screen, you often ask yourself, What's this about?
Here's an example from Pocket Informant's Week View:
What does this row of cells mean?
Fig. 1. Screen with a strange item.
How would you find the answer?
In a printable guide you can:
a) somehow figure out that the item in question is called "time bar", then find it in the table of contents, index, or by keyword search, then go to its description in the text; or
b) browse the guide or manual and hope to find the answer sooner rather than later.
In Use Simulator you just hover the mouse pointer over the item and get the answer - try it below:
Fig.2. Explanation of a screen item in Use Simulator.
Note also that main controls are clickable in Use Simulator (inactive in Fig.2), in the same way as they are clickable in the simulated application. You can click your way through to the perplexing screen element and get your answer.
• How do I...?
Another example from Pocket Informant:
How do I create a task?
A printed guide reads:
"To create a task, use one of the following methods:
• Tap on the New button in Task View." ...
Then it goes on to describe seven more ways to create a task in different views with different controls. Descriptions are verbal and filled with terms: shared New menu, appointment, Alarm Note, etc. You know how it usually is in manuals.
Use Simulator offers you a different kind of experience.
a) Animation. Some actions are shown as animations with comments. Instead of naming a control that starts the process of task creation, they show you both the control and the whole process.
You can pause, step back, replay to study the procedure at your own pace. Text is kept to the minimum.
Click on the Play button to start the example.
Fig.3. Create a task: animated procedure. Note. For replay click Play twice.
b) Series of clickable steps. In many cases procedures are described as lists of actions. Each item in the list is clickable and shows what happens on screen. There are no gaps in the sequences. You can step back and forth and do the steps at your own pace any number of times. It can be used as a tutorial.
This is how a printed manual describes creating a task from selection:
"• Select some text in either an Alarm Note or in a note from any other item (such as a contact), tap Edit, and select ‘Create Task from Selection’. The selected text will be copied to the subject field."
The same action, as described by Use Simulator (click on steps below):
In all, Use Simulator describes 14 ways of creating a task, with great clarity and detail. How such information density is possible? It's not only possible, it is natural for hypertext.
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Every editor in PI has an Edit button You can use it to create a task from any selected text. Ex.: - open a text in Note editor and select a word; The selected word (it could be a phrase) becomes the subject of a new task. |
.Fig.4. Step-by-step explanation.
You can download a demo of Use Simulator to see how information is organized within it.