

Show HN: Nice usability trick - "What do I have to do next?" - TeMPOraL

Recently there was a recruitment process at university I attend to. The system used for registering candidates had a feature that I'm pretty sure I've never seen anywhere before, and that's IMO really helpful - the "What do I have to do next?" link.<p>http://dl.dropbox.com/u/216352/what-do-I-have-to-do-next.png<p>("Co mam zrobić dalej?" is "What do I have to do next?" in Polish)<p>This single feature simplified the whole otherwise complicated formal process to simple "click the link, read what to do, do it, repeat" process. After you completed one set of actions, new instructions were waiting under the link. For me, those instructions perfectly matched the thought process I had in my head and answered every question at the right time. Of course, all relevant formal data was available for all the time by clicking on other links. They also got the trust issue right - the "What to do" link, along with an action list, shown all the relevant context, so at any point in time one could be 100% sure what to do, and that one is not missing anything important.<p>Thought I'd share ;).
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timcederman
Without better context, it's hard to understand the benefit this offered over,
say, a wizard approach.

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TeMPOraL
Right. Most of the actions required you to do things in real world - such as
pay a fee, bring some photos / documents / printouts somewhere, etc. Also the
steps you should take depended on who you are, whether are you continuing
studies or coming for the first time, etc. So you did those things and then
returned to recruitment site, say, next day.

Technically it is a wizard, but it doesn't show you the "state of the process"
and the point of it you're in right now. Also, it is persistent and updated
based on real-world actions :).

The reason why I like it is that the other, "obvious" option would be to write
a document that tries to describe every action that should be taken in more-
less sequential way - those documens tend to be hard to follow because of
their length and branching (ie. "do X, unless you're Y - then do Z").

