While using different electronic devices, computer hard- and software we
from time to time face various users’ guides. A user guide, which may be
sometimes called a manual, is a piece of technical writing that helps people to
use a product.
Manuals usually contain both written information and some images that help
to illustrate the information and make it more understandable. These images
could look like series of screenshots for software or clear diagrams in hardware
user guides. Taking into consideration the target audience technical writers,
who are usually responsible for creating manuals using technical writing tools and software and in big companies, or programmers, product or
project managers, or other technical staff, who might write them in smaller
companies, try to use simple language and to avoid complicated terms.
Practically all users’ guides have more or less the same contents. The
contents usually have the following pages: a cover page, a title page, a copyright
page, a preface, that provides the details of related documents and informs how
to navigate the manual, a page of contents, information on how to use the most
important functions, a troubleshooting page with the description of possible
errors or problems which you may face, and the ways to fix them, a FAQ (Frequently
Asked Questions), and contact details. There might be a glossary and an index
if the document is large.
Software guides are not an exception. They also have pretty much the same
structure (e.g. The Starta User
Manual). Some of the documents might provide the reader with useful internal
links and even can be devoted to the specific step of using a software such as
installation, how to or getting started guides (see also online help authoring).
