Humans are real creatures. They look at your product, and see, for example, a button or a display. They want to know about that control or direction. Visual Index is a simple but powerful document access tool that allows your readers to find the information they need.
This article explains the concept of Visual Index and tells you how to create one for your document.
SIGN INDICATOR
Visual Index is a picture of your product or process with links to relevant information in a related document. Using the Visual Index, your readers can view an image, and then quickly jump to the descriptive spot in your document.
Your document may include Visual Indexes (plural form of “index” “index” and not “index”).
IT STARTS WITH A PICTURE
The Visual Index starts with a picture of your product or process. There are several types of images you can use, depending on the type of product:
* Meat Product (for example, barbecue or video disc)
Product images (all related views).
* Process or Procedure: A flow chart of steps and decisions in a process or process.
* Software Product 1: Software Screenshots.
* Software Product 2: Before and after product images.
* Organization: Organization chart.
Label the image
Label all User Product (PIP) interaction points in the image. U-pip is a place where your user and product can share. U-pips include appropriate controls, indicators, and product features (such as handles, lenses, etc.). Submit a valid label (to your Student) (name) for U-PIP. (Use that label directly when referring to that PIP.)
Outside: If your product uses sounds to inform the user, place a table for those sounds, their description, and a link in the appropriate place of your document (audio description).
Link U-PIP TO YOUR TEXT
To date, the Visual Index is the same as any well-written image of your product or process. However, when you add links to your document, a well-written image becomes a Visual Index.
The link should be part of your document that you believe your reader may want to access in order to find out more about that PIP. (This is an important question whenever you create an index: "does my reader want to come to this place in my document for this item?")
Your method of adding links to an image depends on how you publish the document. When a document is published as:
* Printed Document, and use page numbers to find links;
* Electronic document, and use the links The reader can click to download. If the document is published as HTML, then the visual index can be an image map.
EXAMPLE 1: PAIN IN MY FOOT
I feel pain in my foot when I walk. If I go to a website about the feet, it can be very helpful to find out about my pain, if I can see a picture of a foot with various areas where the pain can be. Links from steps to specific web pages can help me get information about my foot pain quickly.
EXAMPLE 2: IMPROVEMENT PICTURES
Display a faulty image that your software can handle, before and after the repair. Here are the U-PIP errors for each image.
EXAMPLE 3: LEARNER WRITING SUBJECT
Visual Index is a flow chart for Creating a User Document. As Lessons are presented in HTML, the Visual Index is made with an image map, with links to the research sections corresponding to each item in the flowchart.
Visual Index is a simple concept. But, like most simple ideas, it is very powerful. Try adding one to your next document. You will make your Reader a better service.
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