Just-In-Time Information
Pages are interactive when they're responsive to actions from the web page reader. The interaction could be clicking a button or link, dragging a div element, or filling in a form. Most of the time, the page context provides enough information for readers to figure out what to do, but not always. For example, web page form fields with labels such as "last name" may be easy to figure out, but others, such as "Enter fiduciary amount" may not.
Printing out detailed information within the page, however, can be messy, and forcing folks to go to another page is a pain. Opening new windows may help, but they separate the action from the object. That's where just-in-time (JIT) help comes in.
In JIT help, typically a box is displayed with text describing the item or providing additional instructions. The box could open at the point of focus or at a standard place on the page regardless of the element getting focus. The help is displayed based on actions, such as hovering the mouse over a form field.
Form Help
Form element labels can be self-explanatory, such as "first name" or "age," but every once in a while you come across one like "Post Slug" (from Wordpress, a blogging application) that leaves people scratching their heads as they check through the help documentation. Rather than sending people to a separate page, a better approach would be to add information into the page itself. Unfortunately, though, there may not be enough room. The Wordpress edit page is a good ...