The result element describes what happens after users complete the steps in a task. It helps users verify successful completion and understand the outcome of their actions.

The result element serves these primary purposes:

• Describing the expected outcome of completing a task

• Providing success criteria for task completion

• Explaining what users should see, hear, or experience after following the steps

• Indicating the state of the system after task completion

Key characteristics of the result element:

• An optional element that must be added within a taskbody element

• Limited to one result element per task

• Appears after the steps or steps-unordered element and before the example element, if present

• Contains one or more paragraphs describing the outcome

• Can include various content elements such as lists, notes, figures, and examples

• Should provide clear, verifiable information about task outcomes

Content within the result element typically follows these output formatting rules:

• Appears in a distinct section, often with a heading such as Result or Outcome

• Visually separated from the steps to indicate completion of the task

• May use different styling or indentation than the steps

Result best practices:

• Focus on verifiable outcomes that help users confirm task completion

• Include both immediate feedback (what users see) and system changes (what happens in the background)

• Use specific, concrete descriptions rather than vague statements

• When appropriate, include information about how to verify successful completion

• Don't include new actions that should be separate steps in the task

• Don't include troubleshooting information (use troubleshooting topics instead)

• Don't repeat step information that has already been provided

<task id="task-5223">
    <title>Signing in to MobileView</title>
    <shortdesc>Sign in to the MobileView application through the ClusterControl server.</shortdesc>
    <prolog>
        <author translate="no" type="creator">Heretto User &lt;user@heretto.com&gt;</author>
    </prolog>
    <taskbody>
        <steps>
            <step>
                <cmd>To open MobileView, click <menucascade><uicontrol>Start</uicontrol><uicontrol>All programs</uicontrol><uicontrol>Thunderbird MobileView</uicontrol></menucascade> (...)</cmd>
            </step>
        </steps>
        <result>
            <p>You are signed in to MobileView. You can sign out by clicking <menucascade><uicontrol>Home</uicontrol><uicontrol>Sign Out</uicontrol></menucascade>. If you do not sign out manually, you will be signed out automatically after a period of inactivity. </p>
        </result>
    </taskbody>
</task>