McKinnell Consulting Services

About Our Services

Interaction Design

Interaction design (also called "user experience design") is the design of the user interface using a client-centered approach. Rather than focusing on the arrangement of items on a page, interaction design investigates user types and their needs and expectations in addition to the business requirements.
In planning the user interface, the first step is to determine who the users are, what they'll be doing and how your business requirements fit in. At that point, Anne creates a number of design options for the client to choose from. A prototype is developed as a tool for obtaining client feedback and may be used for usability testing to be sure the design is on the right track.
Our interfaces are implemented using CSS for design and layout. This effectively separates content from presentation making your website faster and easier to maintain.

Web-enabled Help

Anne has earned certificates in help technologies and web-enabled help and uses RoboHelp as her primary help development tool.
Help your audience use your web application effectively by allowing them to learn and understand the software at their own pace at any time. The multi-media capabilities of online help, such as interactive demonstrations, significantly assist e-learning.
Eliminate paper manuals to help ensure information about the application is always up to date.
Online help should be the knowledge portal that accompanies a web application. This means that anything that is not the application should be maintained in the help system. For example, in addition to help topics, this could include interactive demonstrations, downloads, community forums, job aids and access to live support.

Software Simulations

Anne uses RoboDemo (soon to become Macromedia Captivate) for creating engaging software simulations to assist in e-learning. Watch a software demo.

Software Testing

Software testing is a natural accompaniment to technical writing and instructional design. That is because on so many occasions technical writers uncover functional errors, and it is their job to report these errors to the system developers.

Website Maintenance

Website maintenance is more than just making text changes. It includes keeping the website up to ever changing standards, implementing dynamic content to make the site fresh and encourage repeat visitors, and soliciting user feedback and implementing change based on that feedback.

Usability Evaluation

Some design decisions require customer feedback because there's no "right" answer. Usability testing is the way to find out how real users react to your website because we watch them using it (or a prototype). It helps resolve design decisions and find design problems early on, before they result in usability problems and annoyed users.
Usability includes the following five dimensions:
- Effective: the completeness and accuracy with which users achieve their goals
- Efficient: how long it takes to complete a task
- Engaging: how pleasant or satisfying the interface is to use
- Error tolerant: ability of the interface to prevent errors
- Easy to learn: how well the product supports initial orientation and deeper learning

Quality Assurance

Combines the strengths of usability evaluation, software testing, and online help to ensure continuity in a web application.

Technical Writing

Anne is dedicated to the creation of print and online documents that are clear, concise and easy to use. This includes effective research, planning, and audience analysis.