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Help & Support
Overview
Sometimes we run into problems, need to troubleshoot an error, or are unsure about how to perform a certain task on Mac OS X or Windows XP. Thankfully, both operating systems offer built-in help systems for users to reference documentation for installed applications and the operating system itself. Both OS X's Help Viewer and XP's Help and Support Center are capable of searching online support articles from Apple or Microsoft's website if an Internet connection is available.
Both of these help systems are very extensible, and allow software makers to create documentation for their software that is accessible through the Help menu in their application's menu bar.
Mac OS X
Help Viewer's interface is decidedly sparse. It consists of a few links to common support questions, a search box, and navigation buttons.
Mac OS X's Help Viewer
Help Viewer organizes help topics into "libraries" based on the application they belong to. The following help libraries are available by default:
- Mac OS Help (system-related help topics)
- Airport Help
- AppleScript Help
- Bluetooth Help
- DVD Player Help
- Font Book Help
- iCal Help
- iTunes and Music Store Help
- QuickTime Help
- VoiceOver Help
To switch between help libraries, click and hold on the Home buttom. A menu will drop down, displaying all the help libraries currently installed on your system. Select a libary, and you will be taken to that library's main page. Alternatively, you can switch between libraries by going to the Library menu from Help Viewer's menu bar.
When searching, search results are split into local results and online support articles. You can expand and collapse each section with a disclosure triangle. Hovering over a search result will conveniently pop up a tooltip with a short description.
The drop-down menu in Help's search field lets you specify if you want to search just within the current application's Help library, or all of Mac Help. That way, if you're searching for information specific to a given application, you won't have to wade through search results that pertain to other applications.
When browsing through a library in Help Viewer, a breadcrumb-style navigation bar will appear at the top of the page showing you where in the help system you currently are. It also provides a link to an alphabetical index. Clicking the Home button will always bring you back to the main page of the help library you are currently viewing.
Mac OS X's system help topics seem to only cover the basics. The interface is snappy, and although searches are fast, the search field isn't search-as-you-type like in most other places, which is odd. Furthermore, the search feature won't work at all if you attempt to use it before all of the libraries are fully loaded, and OS X gives little indication of this process. If this happens, you'll need to quit and relaunch Help Viewer to make the search feature work.
While accessing help topics for a specific application is pretty easy via the Help menu located in menu bar of an application, accessing help topics specifically related to the operating system itself isn't as obvious. You have two options:
Option #1:
From within the Finder, go to Help > Mac OS Help. This is not easily discoverable. Most novices would expect the help menu for the Finder to take you to the help library for the Finder itself, not Mac OS in general. While it's true that the Finder's menu strip appears in the OS X menu bar by default when no other applications are running, this is still no excuse for bad usability design. A more logical location for system-wide help would be in the Apple menu, where all other system-wide functions are stored.
Option #2:
While in Help viewer (you can access it from any application that offers a support library), go to Libary > Mac OS Help. While this method is convenient, it requires that you already have the Help Viewer application open.
Windows XP
XP's Help and Support Center is very discoverable — just go to Start Menu > Help and Support.
XP's Help and Support Center features a task-based interface that provides links to common troubleshooting tasks ("Keep your computer up-to-date...", etc.). The main Help screen is divided into four sections — common help topics, assistance, common tasks, and a "Did you know?" section that displays random hints and tips. While this wealth of information is useful, it can be slightly overwhelming when presented with all of it at once.
Windows XP's Help and Support Center
One nice feature of XP's Help and Support Center is the ability to bookmark frequently-visited support articles for quick access later. This can be a wonderful timesaver if you are frequently referring to the same support articles on a regular basis.
While XP's Help and Support Center will provide some help for many applications (in the form of overviews, articles, tutorials, and troubleshooting), it is generally used for help specific to Windows itself, not individual applications. For application-specific help, you will have to refer to the application's own help, accessible from its Help menu.
XP also supports context-sensitive help in certain areas of the operating system. Most dialogs, for instance, let you right-click an item and select "What's This?" from the context menu that appears:
This will display a tool tip with a quick explanation of the selected item:
Clicking on "What's This" will display a tool-tip description of the item
Conclusion
Though both help systems have their assets, both still have lots of room for improvement. OS X's Help Viewer could benefit from more detailed documentation, while XP's Help and Support Center is a bit cluttered.
Accessing system-related help topics on OS X is inconvenient. Having to go through the Finder to launch the "Mac OS Help" library is somewhat backwards. XP, on the other hand, places a shortcut to the Help and Support Center directly in the Start Menu, where it is easily discoverable.
Mac OS X
- Simple and uncluttered interface
- Can view and switch to another application's help library from one location
- Can search all the application help libraries from one search box at the same time
- System-related help topics are often too basic and don't offer many details
- Inconvenient to access system-related help topics
- Can't bookmark help topics for future access
- No equivalent to XP's "What's This?" contextual menu item
Windows XP
- Help and Support Center is easily discoverable via the Start menu
- Can bookmark help topics for future access
- "What's This" contextual menu item offers provides quick descriptions of elements inside an application's dialog
- Cluttered interface can be overwhelming
- Can't view and switch to another help library on your system from one location
Mac OS X: 7
Windows XP: 8