Great Technical Writing: Improve Your Readers' Access With A Visual Index

OVERVIEW People are visual creatures. They look atdocument, the well-labeled picture becomes a Visual
your product, and see, for example, a button orIndex. The link should be to a section of your
display. They want to find out about that control ordocument that you believe your reader would most
indicator. A Visual Index is a simple but powerfulwant to reach to get the information about that
document access tool that enables your Readers toU-PIP. (This is a fundamental question whenever you
find the information that they want. This articlecreate an index: "does my reader want to come to
describes the Visual Index concept and tells how tothis place in my document for this item?") Your
create one for your document. A VISUAL INDEX Amethod of adding links to the picture depends upon
Visual Index is a picture of your product or processthe publishing mechanism for the document. If the
with links to the relevant information in the relateddocument is published as: * A Printed document, then
document. Using a Visual Index, your Readers canuse page numbers for the links; * An Electronic
look at the picture, and quickly jump to the place inDocument, then use hyperlinks that a Reader can
your document that describes the item of interest.click on to follow. If the document is published as
Your document may include several Visual IndexesHTML, then the visual index can be an image map.
(the plural of "index' is "indexes" not "indices").EXAMPLE 1: A PAIN IN MY FOOT I have a pain in my
STARTS WITH A PICTURE The Visual Index startsfoot when I walk. If I go to a website about feet, it
with a picture of your product or process. There arewould be very efficient for finding out about my pain,
various kinds of pictures to use, based on theif I could see a picture of a foot with various areas
product type: * Physical Product (for example, awhere the pain could be. Links from the foot areas
barbecue or video disk recorder) Pictures of theto specific web pages would enable me to find the
product (all relevant views). * A Procedure orinformation about my specific foot pain quickly.
Process: A flowchart of the steps and decisions inEXAMPLE 2: PHOTO CORRECTING SOFTWARE
the procedure or process. * Software Product 1:Show a picture with the errors that your software
Screenshots of the software. * Software Product 2:can handle, before and after correction. Here the
Before and after images of the work that theU-PIP's are each of the photo errors. EXAMPLE 3: A
product does. * Organization: An organization chart.COURSE ON WRITING USER DOCUMENTATION The
LABEL THE PICTURE Label all the User-ProductVisual Index is a flowchart for creating the User
Interaction Points (U-PIP) on the picture. A U-PIP isDocument. Since the Course is presented in HTML,
anywhere that your User and the product maythe Visual Index is made from an image map, with
interact. U-PIP's include controls, displays, and relevanthyperlinks into the sections of the Course relevant to
physical features of the product (such as handles,each item in the flowchart. BOTTOM LINE A Visual
latches, etc.). Provide a meaningful (to your Reader)Index is a simple concept. But like many simple
label (name) for the U-PIP. (Use that same exactconcepts it is very powerful. Try to include one in
label everywhere you refer to that U-PIP.) Aside: Ifyour next document. You'll be doing your Reader a
your product uses sounds to inform the User, thengreat service.
include a table of those sounds, what they mean,Barry Millman, Ph.D., has a Bachelor of Science in
and a link into the relevant area of your documentElectrical Engineering and an M.Sc. and Ph.D. in
(describing the sound). LINK THE U-PIP's TO YOURPsychology (Human Information Processing). Visit: for
DOCUMENT Up to this point, the Visual Index is justresources to help you create the User Documents
like any well-labeled picture of your product orthat your Product needs and your Users deserve.
process. However, when you add links into yourVisit for more articles like this one.