Inside Macintosh: Apple Guide Complete / Part 1 - Designing Guide Files

Chapter 2 - Authoring Tips and Suggestions

Designing a Sequence

When you create a guide file--particularly of the types Help and Tutorial--you typically encounter topics that require a panel sequence rather than just one panel. A panel sequence (referred to here as a sequence) is a set of related panels that the user can access linearly using left and right navigation arrows. A sequence can also contain subsequences (or branches). To create a sequence, you first break the associated topic into a series of user tasks or concepts and then create a panel for each task or concept. Plan your sequences in hard copy form before creating your help source files (see Chapter 3). Where possible, you should use context checks so that your sequences provide information specific to the user's needs. See "Using Context Checks" on page 2-84 for more information.

To design a sequence, you should be familiar with the standard panel types, described in the previous section. Then design the sequence with two levels.

The first-level panels should directly lead the user through the task or concept of the associated topic. If the sequence describes a task, these panels typically consist of an introductory panel that describes the sequence, one or more action panels that lead the user through the task, and a closure panel that sums up the task. If the sequence describes a concept, these panels typically consist of an introductory panel and one or more information panels containing explanatory text. If the sequence includes branches, you design each branch following these same guidelines. If you want the user to view one or more branches, precede the branches by a decision panel. See the next section for information on when to create a branch.

The second-level panels should consist of supplemental help panels, which the user chooses to view, and Oops and Continue panels, which Apple Guide automatically presents to the user under certain conditions. Supplemental help panels should contain additional information that the user can access by clicking a button or hot area on a first-level panel. These panels can include a panel associated with a Huh? button or hot text, or definition, tip, and related topics panels. You specify Oops and Continue panels with the <Make Sure> command, which specifies a condition that must be true before Apple Guide shows a panel to the user. For more information, see "Comparison of Oops and Continue Panels" on page 2-85.

You should not exceed certain quantities of panels and branches in a single sequence. Do not exceed

• 15 panels in a branch
• 32 panels in a single sequence, including all branch panels
• 10 branches in a single sequence