Technical Writing – Online Help Example

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Carnegie Speech is a language acquisition and training company that uses speech recognition and artificial intelligence technologies developed by Carnegie Mellon University to create software for assessing and teaching spoken languages.

From 2007 - 2010 we wrote and coded the online help systems for three software applications that Carnegie Speech developed in a strategic partnership and technology agreement with In-Q-Tel, to support the mission of the CIA and the broader U.S. Intelligence Community. The applications are SpeakIraqi, SpeakRussian, and SpeakFarsi.

These are web-based software applications that use the open source course management system, Moodle, which is written in HTML and PHP. Courses are provided for both beginner and advanced students. The goal is to teach students the essential vocabulary they need in order to perform their work, plus grammar, and most important of all – correct pronunciation in these challenging languages.

Screenshots

(Click on the images below to view full-size.)

Students can open the Getting Started guide and the online help documentation from links in the Administration box in the upper-left corner of the course window, or by clicking on the yellow question marks:

Online help developed with Moodle in HTML and PHP
Moodle Lesson Page for SpeakFarsi

 

The following screenshot shows the upper portion of the online help table of contents. Students can reach the help topics from the links on this page, or by clicking on the yellow help "?" button that's available on every screen in the application:

Technical writing online help table of contents
SpeakFarsi Online Help Table of Contents

 

This is the help topic that opens when a student clicks the yellow help "?" button while using the Flashcard Practice screen. The Help is "context-sensitive" when opened from an exercise, providing targeted instructions for using that specific screen:

Online help developed with Moodle in HTML and PHP
Online Help Documentation for a SpeakFarsi Flashcard Exercise

 

Questions? Please call Mary Ecsedy at (412) 452-9704 to schedule your FREE Phone Consultation, discuss your business requirements for the project, and decide on the best course of action to help you achieve your business goals through the power of the written word.

You may also send us email requesting additional information. We look forward to speaking with you!

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