The public contents has 71 numbered entries. The nine defined terms in clause 3.1 are listed here too because the preview carries their text. A heading is public; the wording under clauses 4 to 9 and Annex A is not.
Clause 1: Scope
| Ref | Heading in the public contents | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
1 | Scope | What the draft covers and what it leaves to other standards. |
Clause 2: Normative references
| Ref | Heading in the public contents | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
2 | Normative references | The one document a reader must hold alongside this draft: ISO/IEC/IEEE 26514:2022. |
Clause 3: Terms and definitions
| Ref | Heading in the public contents | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
3 | Terms and definitions | Nine defined terms and eight abbreviated terms used across the draft. |
3.1 | Terms | The vocabulary that fixes what coach mark, icon, minimalism and user assistance mean here. |
3.1.1 | coach mark | A small pop-up laid over the interface to explain how a control works. |
3.1.2 | context of use | Users, tasks, equipment and the physical and social setting in which the app is used. |
3.1.3 | hamburger icon | Three stacked lines that open a longer menu of choices. |
3.1.4 | icon | A screen graphic that stands for a function. |
3.1.5 | infographic | A visual representation of information or data. |
3.1.6 | minimalism | Critical information plus the least extra information needed to be complete. |
3.1.7 | responsive design | An interface that adapts to the device layout, navigation and information seeking. |
3.1.8 | user assistance | The principles, design techniques and solutions that give a user the right information. |
3.1.9 | user experience | The whole of a person's perceptions and responses from use or expected use. |
3.2 | Abbreviated terms | AI, AR, CSS, FAQ, GUI, JSON, STE and UI, spelled out. |
Clause 4: User assistance planning and analysis
| Ref | Heading in the public contents | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
4 | User assistance (UA) planning and analysis | Decide the approach, the audiences and the mobile context before any help content is written. |
4.1 | User assistance planning for mobile devices | The plan that ties user assistance to the app roadmap and the device estate. |
4.2 | Defining the target audiences | First time users, expert users and the groups in between, named before design. |
4.3 | Analysing the use case | The business use case the app serves and what it means for the help content. |
4.4 | Context for UA in mobile devices | The conditions of use that change what help a person can read and act on. |
4.4.1 | General | The context factors the draft asks a team to record. |
4.4.2 | Technical platform hosting the mobile application | Operating system, form factor and the platform limits that shape help. |
4.4.3 | Screen size of the device used to run the mobile application | The small screen as a design constraint, not an afterthought. |
4.4.4 | Physical environment of the user application | Light, noise, motion, one hand, interruptions and the setting of use. |
4.4.5 | Security for mobile devices | What help may show or store when the device is lost, shared or locked down. |
Clause 5: Design principles
| Ref | Heading in the public contents | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
5 | Design principles | The design stance behind the content: minimalism, four C principles and progressive disclosure. |
5.1 | General | How the principles are meant to be applied together. |
5.2 | Minimalism | Critical information and no more than completeness requires. |
5.3 | Four "C" principles | Four named principles. Their four elements are not stated in the free preview. |
5.4 | Progressive disclosure | Show the next useful layer, keep the rest reachable. |
Clause 6: Designing content
| Ref | Heading in the public contents | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
6 | Designing content | Choose the form of help for the moment: first use, embedded help or another channel. |
6.1 | UA for initial use of an application | The first run: what to explain, in what order, and how to let a person leave. |
6.1.1 | General | The design questions that apply to every first use experience. |
6.1.2 | Features tour | A short sequence that shows the main features without blocking the task. |
6.1.3 | Overlays | Layers placed over the interface, with the risk of hiding the thing they explain. |
6.2 | UA embedded into the user interface | Help that lives in the screen where the task happens. |
6.2.1 | Coach marks | Small pop-ups that point at a control and explain it in place. |
6.2.2 | Guided help | A sequence that walks a person through a task step by step. |
6.2.3 | Embedded help | Help text inside the interface, close to the field or action it explains. |
6.3 | UA in other forms | Help delivered outside the immediate screen, including channels that bring new risks. |
6.3.1 | General | The trade-offs when help leaves the interface. |
6.3.2 | Standalone help application | A separate app or site that carries the help content. |
6.3.3 | Infographics | Visual explanation that has to work on a small screen and without colour alone. |
6.3.4 | Chatbots | Conversational help, with the boundary, the fallback and the record it keeps. |
6.3.5 | Email support | Support by message, and what it must hand back to the product team. |
6.3.6 | UA based on interaction with social networks | Help that reaches users through social channels, and the control that implies. |
6.3.7 | Role of artificial intelligence (AI) in providing UA for mobile apps | AI generated or AI mediated help, its review and its disclosure. |
Clause 7: Developing content
| Ref | Heading in the public contents | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
7 | Developing content | Write and produce the content for a small screen, gestures, media and other languages. |
7.1 | Writing for small screen size | The writing rules that follow from a narrow viewport. |
7.1.1 | General | The default writing stance for a mobile screen. |
7.1.2 | Writing in steps | One action per step, in the order a person performs it. |
7.1.3 | Colours | Colour used with meaning, and never as the only carrier of meaning. |
7.1.4 | Icons | Icons that a reader can name and that the text also explains. |
7.1.5 | Simple language | Plain words, short sentences and the reader's terms. |
7.2 | Language of touch gestures | A consistent vocabulary for tap, swipe, pinch, long press and drag. |
7.3 | Content customization | One source that adapts to device, variable, condition and style. |
7.3.1 | Device-specific customization | Content that changes with the device, not content copied per device. |
7.3.2 | Custom-defined variables | Named values that fill a template without rewriting it. |
7.3.3 | Conditional text | Text that appears only when a condition holds, and how to test both branches. |
7.3.4 | Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) | Presentation kept in the stylesheet so the content stays portable. |
7.4 | Illustrations and videos | Screens, movement and augmented reality as help media. |
7.4.1 | General | When an illustration or a video earns its place in the help. |
7.4.2 | GUI representation | A screen image that matches the interface the reader actually sees. |
7.4.3 | Videos on movements and processes | Showing a movement or a process where a still image cannot. |
7.4.4 | Augmented reality | Help laid over the physical scene, and the safety and consent questions it raises. |
7.5 | Translating UA contents | Translation as a content design task, including length, terms and screenshots. |
Clause 8: Evaluating UA design and content
| Ref | Heading in the public contents | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
8 | Evaluating UA design and content | Set the goals and measures, then test on the devices and in the settings that matter. |
8.1 | Content usability testing goals | What the test is for, written before the first session. |
8.2 | UA measures and requirements | The measures that say whether the help worked. |
8.3 | UA testing for mobile applications | Testing on real devices, real networks and real interruptions. |
Clause 9: Accessible UA for a mobile application
| Ref | Heading in the public contents | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
9 | Accessible UA for a mobile application | Help that a person with a disability can perceive, operate and understand. |
9.1 | General | The accessibility stance the draft applies to the help content itself. |
9.2 | Text description of an image | A text alternative for every image that carries meaning. |
Annex A: Examples of progressive disclosure techniques (informative)
| Ref | Heading in the public contents | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
A | Annex A Examples of progressive disclosure techniques | Six named techniques in seven subclauses (A.1 is general) for revealing help in layers. |
A.1 | General | How the techniques in Annex A are meant to be read and chosen. |
A.2 | Content preview | A short preview that lets a reader decide whether to open the rest. |
A.3 | Accordion panes | Collapsible sections that keep a long answer within a short screen. |
A.4 | Sliders | A control for moving through a sequence or a range. |
A.5 | Hamburger icon | The three line menu, and the duty to label what it opens. |
A.6 | Wizard | A step by step sequence for a long or risky task. |
A.7 | Advanced settings | The deeper options kept out of the first view. |
The rules this is built from
Read from the real rules, not invented.
Every line points to the public ISO page or the free preview it came from, so you can check it yourself.
- 80 headings and defined terms
- 12 dated stages behind the draft
- 26514:2022 named as the normative reference
- Check any line yourself