Help by guided tasks: utilizing UIMS knowledge

A help delivery mechanism integrated with a semantic UIMS is presented. The guided task paradigm is implemented where a user participates in a guided step-by- step demonstration. Help authors create task scripts composed of statements drawn from the semantic definition of the user interface. The help delivery system automatically translates such statements into user instructions which guide the user through the actions necessary to accomplish a task. Any application developed using this UIMS automatically gets this help authoring and presentation facility with no added effort.