Technical Writers’ Companion

Think of your image as a piece of software, not as a static image printed on paper.

For example, you can:

▪Progressively disclose more information: Clicking or hovering over certain parts of the image can show additional information. (Example: Hovering over parts shows the parts’ names and order numbers.)

▪Progressively remove parts by clicking them in the image.

▪Filter the image for particular content.

▪Change the perspective.

▪Run an animation.

▪Change sample data or modify a state.

▪Switch between a photo and a drawing (which can be simplified compared to the photo).

▪Switch between two photos or between two drawings either to show additional components or to remove certain components. (Example: The initial image shows a machine in its normal state. A second image shows the same machine from the same perspective but with its housing removed.)

▪On a chart: Dynamically show auxiliary lines at the mouse pointer to facilitate the reading of the values at the axes.

▪Show a dynamic magnifier to be able to view certain parts of the image in more detail.

Interactive images can even simulate a complete user interface. Example: An image shows the controls of a photo camera plus a photo. Users can click the image of the camera to change the camera settings. The results can then immediately be seen in the photo. So users don’t need to read text but can explore the product without any risk of making errors. Thus, they are likely to discover functions that else they would not find.

Another application is the use of a clickable image as a graphical table of contents. An interactive image can provide directed access to particular information without having to name the components in the image. Omitting these technical terms can make the whole document much simpler and avoids mistakes. All that users need to do is to click the corresponding component in the image.

Compared to non-interactive images, interactive ones:

▪inspire exploration

▪can contain more information in additional layers

▪require users to take action

▪require some time for exploration

▪may go unnoticed, so users may see only the static version of the image

▪are more complicated and thus more expensive to create

▪don’t work on paper, so if you want to provide the same information also in a printed form, you need a replacement strategy

You may either:

–omit the image altogether, losing its information—usually not recommended because if the image is that unimportant you shouldn’t invest into making it interactive in the first place

–show the most simple version of the image plus some text—recommended if the amount of interactive information is large

–show the most complete version of the image—recommended if there’s only little information added to the image interactively