An evaluation of using programming by demonstration and guided walkthrough techniques for authoring and utilizing documentation

Abstract

Much existing documentation is informal and serves to communicate "how-to" knowledge among restricted working groups. Using current practices, such documentation is both difficult to maintain and difficult to use properly. In this paper, we propose a documentation system, called DocWizards, that uses programming by demonstration to support low-cost authoring and guided walkthrough techniques to improve document usability. We report a comparative study between the use of DocWizards and traditional techniques for authoring and following documentation. The study participants showed significant gains in efficiency and reduction in error rates when using DocWizards. In addition, they expressed a clear preference for using the DocWizards tool, both for authoring and for following documentation. Copyright 2006 ACM.