User Experience Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for user experience researchers and experts. It's 100% free, no registration required.

Sign up
Here's how it works:
  1. Anybody can ask a question
  2. Anybody can answer
  3. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top

I'm getting ready to release an app onto the Mac Appstore and am in need of some advice. The app is really very simple but I'm thinking about adding a quick tutorial.

Would I be better off creating an Apple Help book so that when the user clicks the help menu item the Apple help interface appears?

Or should I create a tutorial inside of my application that the user can navigate through?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

I should add that I actually already have everything in place for an "in app" tutorial, so the Help Book would actually take more work. I'm just trying to do what's best for the user.

share|improve this question

migrated from stackoverflow.com Aug 27 '11 at 23:59

This question came from our site for professional and enthusiast programmers.

The helpbook window is somewhat annoying.. I think it's because it's not running as a separate app, ALT-TAB is not working, making it difficult to switch between the help and the app. I much prefer being able to ALT-TAB between help and the app.

share|improve this answer

Sounds like you already have a good plan (in-app help with the menu bar linking to it), but I'll throw in one more idea. Since you're using the Mac App Store, and everyone looks at the screenshots, you could put some simple tips on top of the images. Like what iA Writer does for their iPad app: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ia-writer/id392502056?mt=8

share|improve this answer

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.
{"cc_re__cc_re__cc_by_sa_3_0": ["                    <li><a href=\"//area51.stackexchange.com\" title=\"proposing new sites in the Stack Exchange network\">Area 51</a></li>\r\n                        <li><a href=\"//careers.stackoverflow.com\">Stack Overflow Careers</a></li>\r\n                    \r\n                </ol>\r\n            </td>\r\n    </tr>\r\n</table>\r\n                </div>\r\n            </div>\r\n            <div id=\"copyright\">\r\n                site design / logo &#169; 2016 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/\" rel=\"license\">cc by-sa 3.0</a> \r\n                with <a href=\"http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2009/06/attribution-required/\" rel=\"license\">attribution required</a>\r\n            </div>\r\n            <div id=\"svnrev\">\r\n                rev 2016.4.29.3525\r\n            </div>\r\n        </div>\r\n    </div>\r\n    <noscript>\r\n        <div id=\"noscript-warning\">User Experience Stack Exchange works best with JavaScript enabled<img src=\"http://pixel.quantserve.com/pixel/p-c1rF4kxgLUzNc.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"dno\"></div>\r\n    </n"], "copyright__copyright__copyright": ["king to it), but I'll throw in one more idea. Since you're using the Mac App Store, and everyone looks at the screenshots, you could put some simple tips on top of the images. Like what iA Writer does for their iPad app: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ia-writer/id392502056?mt=8\n\nshare|improve this answer\n\nYour Answer\n\n\u00a0\ndiscard\n\nBy posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.\n\nNot the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question."]}