Skip to page content

Bite Size Standards

Bite Size Standards offers concise web development tutorials, tips, and tricks written by designers and developers who are passionate about web standards. More about us

Recently
Supercharge your image borders
CSS values for colors
CSS selectors: the basics
Coloring text-decoration
Centering an image, Part 2
Centering an image, Part 1
Easy cross-browser transparency
Become a Bite Size Standards author
Bite Size Standards relaunches
Equal height excerpts with ems

Manuals made minuscule

Kate Bolin | 9 April 2006

Yeah, you know how to make it work, but what about your users?

Writing a manual is actually one of the easiest things you’re going to do, and here’s how:

Outline, Outline, Outline.

Write down an outline of each process you expect someone to perform—right down to the trivial ones. Step-by-step outlines of each action = instant manual.

No explanation needed.

Getting bogged down in why it works? They’re not going to read it cover-to-cover. Focus on the instructions, and save the explanations for your friends.

Screenshots are your friends.

If they can look at the manual, look at the screen, and see the same thing, they know they’re doing it right.

Self-reference isn’t just for modern lit.

If it’s the same process in a different place, refer back to the original process.

About the Author

Kate Bolin alternates between web design and content production in Nottingham, England, and currently works as the web person for a small NHS project.

When she’s not wrangling XHTML and CSS or fighting for truth, justice, and accessibility, she gets random on Katemonkey.co.uk and attends Multipack meetings. She likes monkeys, sleep, and the little toys you get in Kinder Suprise.

Articles by Kate Bolin


Commenting is closed for this article.

RSS Feed of Bite Size Standards | © Copyright 2006 Bite Size Standards and Authors