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HomeRants > How to organize a step-by-step procedure. > Let users move down the scale of action.



 

 

Let users move down the scale of action

Reveal actual procedures and supplementary info in separate columns or with zoomed-in images in additional windows.

Gradually reveal the details.

1. When the user clicks a process set, you reveal a set or sequence of processes.

2. When the user clicks a process, reveal a set of procedures (advice).

3. Add related documents such as guidelines, checklists, templates, email and web addresses, archives, discussion threads.

Within a single screen, then, the user can explore the entire flow (down to the names of the procedures), comparing each object at each level without having to remember their names or sequence. Discovery and recognition replace guesswork and bad recall.

To help the uncertain, who wonder where they are in a structure like this, you might articulate the path taken by highlighting each choice, and advertising those selections at the top.

Resources:

Probe your audiences--gently.

Help (A chapter from Hot Text: Web Writing that Works. PDF: 995K, or about 18 minutes at 56K).

 

 

The process set is Preparing for the Day. 
I chose the process Shaving.
Now I am working my way through the procedure on Lathering Up.

 

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