Re: User Manual par excellance

[Beth Agnew <beth -dot- agnew -at- senecac -dot- on -dot- ca>]

User Guides are often used as sales tools. Prospective customers, and 
people who have just bought the product, will pick up the manual and 
start reading from the beginning, after a quick scan of the TOC and 
Index, long before they use the guide to assist them with the product. 
If the first few pages seem friendly, informative, and give the 
impression of both authority and approachability, then the buyer and the 
potential user (often not the same people) feel comfortable enough with 
the product to give it a chance. A user who likes the first few pages 
will have the impression that the rest of the manual will be just as 
inviting and easy to understand.

A good manual has a little bit of that MarCom flavor at the beginning, 
to satisfy the potential buyers and first time users, but quickly gets 
down to business.
--Beth

--
Beth Agnew
Professor, Technical Communication
Seneca College of Applied Arts & Technology
Toronto, ON 416.491.5050 x3133
http://www.tinyurl.com/83u5u


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Now Shipping -- WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word! Easily create online
Help. And online anything else. Redesigned interface with a new
project-based workflow. Try it today! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l

Doc-To-Help 2005 converts RoboHelp files with one click. Author with Word or any HTML editor. Visit our site to see a conversion demo movie and learn more. http://www.componentone.com/TECHWRL/DocToHelp2005

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archiver -at- techwr-l -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Send administrative questions to lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.