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The use of technologies is a defining element in the identity of software user assistance professionals. Enhancing a product’s usability requires transforming our words and ideas into digital form, and there are a variety of technologies to help us do that. In our survey we provided a list of 18 popular user assistance technologies and asked the respondents to value the importance of those technologies in their current development efforts. The technologies we presented to the survey respondents are broad solution technologies as opposed to specific file formats. For example, Microsoft’s HTML Help provides a comprehensive solution to user assistance in the Windows environment, while HTML is a technology that gains value only when used in conjunction with a broader technology like HTML Help or browser-based Help. Foundation technologies like HTML, XML, and JavaScript are dealt with specifically in the Skills section of the survey. The figure below shows the top-rated user assistance technologies. These technologies were rated as either "Invaluable" or "Very Valuable," the top two ratings on a five point scale. The yellow bars show the current results and the pink bars show the ratings from 2000 survey for comparison. 
The World Wide Web topped the list as the most valued technology component. A very strong 77% of the respondents indicated that the Web is vital to their efforts. Until now the Web has primarily been used as a supplement to online Help and printed manuals. As we move increasingly toward Web-based applications and broadband Internet connections, server-side deployment of user assistance via the Web is becoming a hot topic in many tech pubs departments. Adobe Acrobat continues to be a staple in many of our documentation sets. The Acrobat PDF files can be delivered on an installation CD or via the Web. This technology is mostly used for legacy print documents like user guides and also for supplemental white papers and troubleshooting information. But the applications of Acrobat are apparently growing, as its value has increased eight percentage points since last year’s survey. The use of browser-based Help continues to grow in popularity. The lure of displaying content in a web browser window seems to offer enough positive value for us to favor it over more feature-rich, platform-specific proprietary Help systems. Its use by respondents increased from 58% last year to 70% this year. This form of content delivery uses standard and non-standard Web technologies to deliver Help content through Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator. Other browsers are not necessarily supported by most implementations of browser-based Help. Implementation strategies run the gamut from using basic HTML pages to proprietary solutions like WebHelp and InterHelp to complex renderings employing JavaScript and Active Server pages. Printed manuals stand the test of time by maintaining their value despite the greater attention given to online delivery methods. Manuals were ranked as "Invaluable" or "Very Valuable" by two-thirds of the respondents. This is a decrease of 12 percentage points from the 2000 survey. We defined Printed manuals in the survey as "user, installation, or reference guides." Quick reference materials scored high at 62%, but also declined in use from 2000. We defined this as quick reference cards, quick start guides, job aids, etc. The importance of Microsoft’s WinHelp is in a slow but definite retreat, dropping by 12 percentage points from the 2000 survey. The move to HTML Help continues to be very slow with only 53% of respondents giving it the high-value ratings. With version 2.0 scheduled for release in early 2002, HTML Help may have neared its maximum acceptance levels. Additional information is provided about Windows Help in its own section of this report.
Other ResultsAfter gaining significantly in value ratings in the 1999 and 2000 surveys, the growth of embedded user assistance has flattened out. The survey defined Embedded UA as "any Help information coded directly into the application user interface." In the current survey, 39% rated this as "Very Important" or "Invaluable" as compared to 38% in the 2000 survey. JavaHelp was judged as being "Invaluable" or "Very Valuable" by 15% of respondents. This is an increase from 10% in 2000. Here are the percentages of respondents rating the other technology choices as either "Invaluable" or "Very Valuable":
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