Help Windows Needs to be Better

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

• When a help topic is opened, it always opens in the middle of the Window. It should remember its last used size and position.
• The Help window can be resized and moved to the side to keep it in view while learning the application. However, it cannot be minimized.
• The menu button is in the white area of the help topic, but the search button is in the black toolbar area. The menu button should be moved up, perhaps to the top left corner? 
• The blue back and forward buttons have poor contrast against the black toolbar
• The search field also suffers from poor contrast. The search field background should be light grey with black text. 
• F1 does not open help. This is a must for a Windows application. The user can assign it, but it should be the default.
• Searching for "Frame" or "Text" doesn't find the Frame Text topic. 
• Multiple help windows can be opened simultaneously. Is it possible to have them dock together as a tabbed dialogue? 

 

No doubt your graphic designers could do better, but here's a quick mockup.

 

[Chris_K]

Hi Bhikkhu Pesala

 

Thanks for raising these points. A few we have logged already and I shall raise reports for some new ones you have highlighted. Just to address your point about the menu position, this is intentional and matches the Mac version. The menu is responsive and part of the html structure of the help. Moving i into the frame would remove it from this structure.

 

Cheers

[djouce]

A fantastic application, but I agree with Bhikkhu - please please please add a minimize button to the help window (a maximize button would be good too). It's so irritating having to resize it in order to work on the designer, and the way it insists on overlaying the workspace is antiquated and a usability fail - at the very least it should be possible to switch between the windows. There's so much to learn here that being easily able to reference the help window without having to continuously close or resize it is pretty much essential. And I also second Bhikkhu's docking suggestion.

 

Regards.