Different types of manuals?

[Geoff Hart <Geoff-h -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>]

Christine Pellar-Kosbar wondered <<...what is usually
covered in a configuration manual, an installation
manual, a reference manual, and a developer's guide?>>

For no extra cost <g>, I'll throw in a user's guide, since I
missed that thread when it started a while back:

Installation guide: How to get something out of the crate (or
off the CD) and into your computer, onto your desk, or into
your office or factory or whatever.

Configuration guide: Once you've got the thing installed, how
do you customize (configure) it to meet your needs. Usually
part of the Installation guide.

Developer's guide/user's guide: how to use the thing to create
new things (developer's guide) or do productive work (user's
guide). The "how do I?" guide!

Reference guide: answers all those pesky little questions that
arise when you begin developing new things or trying to do
productive work. The "what are the details behind the how do
I? guide" guide. Usually (to a greater or lesser degree) part of
the user's guide.

There's generally some overlap between categories; I've
chosen functional descriptions of the main things users need
to know, however the writers choose to label these things.

--Geoff Hart @8^{)}     Pointe-Claire, Quebec
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca

"Perhaps there is something deep and profound behind all those sevens,
something just calling out for us to discover it. But I
suspect that it is only a pernicious, Pythagorean coincidence." George
Miller, "The Magical Number Seven" (1956)

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