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When a user has solved the problem, he/she will go and solve the next problem. Join over 200,000 people who get actionable tips and expert advice every month in the TechSmith Newsletter. Like any piece of communication you create, a crucial first step is identifying the person who will be on the receiving end. Try the Hemingway App () to identify passive passages in your writing. Your description should include both a written explanation as to the device’s purpose and a small graphic depicting what the device looks like.
Keep your instructions as focused, simple, and digestible as you can. Also, try to tailor the manual to day-to-day activities, which helps boost your employees’ courage, competence, performance, and productivity. A glossary or index is needed when there are many terms to explain that your audience may not be familiar with. However, glossaries are not recommended; the best choice is to explain confusing terms in the text of the manual itself. If you choose to include a glossary, place it in front of the manual, just after the table of contents.
GE APPLIANCES PRODUCTS
You can view it on a PC or right from your phone or tablet. Face it, nobody’s going to read the entire user manual, so for readers to find value in it, you have to make it simple enough for people to skim through and find what they’re looking for. Give it a clean format by having a consistent layout from page to page and make sure there is a lot of space between chunks of text. Use familiar keywords related to the product and make sure the font is simple and readable. Firstly, they’ll include the table of contents, index, glossary, and other traditional aspects as expected.
And, regardless of their specialty, getting additional eyes on the document will minimize typos, grammatical errors, and other simple mistakes. But, again, branding is always secondary to the goal of showing the customer how to use the product. But “being helpful” also means optimizing the overall experience for your users. This will further optimize user outcomes, and minimize the chances of their creating dangerous situations through misuse of your product. As we said at the start, if your customers aren’t sure what to do with your product, they’re not going to be your customers for much longer.
Please also avoid flagging or downvoting other users’ comments just because you disagree with them. Comments that we find to be hateful, inflammatory, threatening, or harassing may be removed. This includes racist, gendered, ableist, ageist, homophobic, and transphobic slurs and language of any sort. If you don’t have something nice to say about another user, don’t say it.
Study the IEC checklist to ensure your manual complies with the standard. So, Philip has just created the (sub-)titles for his topics. Determine what topics will become chapters by adding chapter numbers.
Involve All Stakeholders and Team Members
Typically, this means taking advantage of spaces where branding is more appropriate and expected. For example, Apple rarely refers to itself throughout its manuals – except when required for demonstrative purposes. And, in general, offering all this valuable information to your customers will make them appreciate your brand more and more — and will lead to a number of other benefits for your company. This will have a major impact on your ability to onboard new users quickly and efficiently.
- We have developed user manual templates for machinery, toys, medical devices and electronics that contain all legal content.
- However, glossaries are not recommended; the best choice is to explain confusing terms in the text of the manual itself.
- Active voice is a perspective in writing that explains things from the user’s perspective.
- Next, create safety warnings and write a description of the device.
An instruction manual should cover the product comprehensively — leaving no information unsaid, and no questions unanswered. As needed, the manual may explain certain points in greater detail either directly or via additional resources. In such technical documentation, clarity of language, visual aids, and other media is crucial to the user’s comprehension. The meaning of all instructional content should be self-evident, with minimal room for interpretation throughout the document.
Table of Contents and Index
Enter your appliance’s model number to download owner’s manuals, use and care manuals, installation information and energy guides. On this slide in her user manual, a teammate shares how she likes to receive feedback. Gain access to exclusive offers and perks, apps and services, world-class customer support and more. The best part of all this is that you can get the same results as Philip did by following this step-by-step process on how to create a user manual.
These warnings should be placed in the very front of the manual after the cover page so that the user sees them first. A task analysis is the process of identifying and organizing the steps needed to use the device. If you were part of the team that helped design and develop the device or product, it might be hard to look at the product objectively in order to explain its operation.
Appliances
Learn how to use your Blackmagicdesign ATEM MINI switcher with the comprehensive user manual, covering everything from basic setup to advanced features like keying and remote administration. Discover how to connect video sources, control audio, use cuts and transitions, and much more. I have also created an IEC checklist that can be used to double check that your user manual complies with this standard. Besides the primary goal of a user manual , secondary goals could be creating a better user experience and meeting legal requirements. As you write a user manual you may need to use icons, symbols or codes to help give the instructions needed. It is important to define these as early as possible in your user manual in order to avoid any confusion or frustration on behalf of the reader.
Using graphics and images to supplement text is a great option for either print or digital user manuals, with videos and GIFs adding interest and a supportive element to digital user guides. User manual, or user guide, is a technical communication document that is designed to educate users on a particular product. Produced in print or digitally, they can be written about almost any product, but are most common with computer software and hardware, electronic devices, and video games. User documentation is content in the form of user manuals or user guides which serves to help end users successfully interact with a product. Aside from not providing a user manual, nothing will make your customers more frustrated than finding theirs full of jargon and inaccessible language. These language choices make your user guides difficult to use and they certainly don’t foster an excellent customer service experience.
I created this template in Indesign and asked Philip to adjust it to match his brand identity. A well-designed manual contributes to a better brand and user experience. The most legislation requires you to include a description of the intended use in the user instructions. The way the intended use is described also determines your liability and affects the further contents of the user manual.
We encourage you to voice your opinions, however in order for discussions to remain constructive, we ask that you remember to criticize ideas, not people. Mind https://coinbreakingnews.info/ mapping applications and word processors seem to continue their lives isolated year after year. After all, you are pretty close already as you just described.
Start numbering PREPARATION PRODUCT FOR USE with number 4. So if you want to take defining your user one step further, I would suggest you visualise your user in the form of a persona. When creating a persona you are giving your user a name, age et cetera, so it becomes a real person that represents your user. You can use the template yourself to determine who your user is.
While you may create print copies of your user manuals, it is likely that your primary focus will be digital documentation. In a world where most people carry a smartphone on them at all times it is highly probable that your user guides will be most widely used in a digital format. A user manual or user guide is written in plain language, with a focus on problem solving, and utilizes good design. I should contain a table of contents, follow a logical hierarchy and flow, and provide accessible content. A good user manual will also be searchable and be influenced by feedback collected from real users. Adhering to the “show don’t tell” philosophy we discussed earlier works well here too!
