How to Write Software User Manuals

Plain English guide based on IEEE Std 1063

Author: David Tuffley
Length: 94 page(s)
Written: Apr 2011
Sales Rank: -
Views: 307

I N T R O D U C T I O N

Good manuals are a scarce commodity - expensive to produce, difficult to maintain, the province of experts. Not any more. With this new step-by-step guide you can produce successful manuals at a fraction of the normal cost. And the bonus is that they will satisfy the AS 3563 and ISO 9001 standards.

How to Write User Manuals is a complete step-by-step guide designed for people in your organisation with average literacy skills and no prior technical writing experience. By simply following the steps, a person can produce manuals that really work. The result - happy users and big savings on consultants and/or training course fees.

The Guide comes complete with templates for WordPerfect and Word for Windows which allow the writer to produce professional-looking manuals from the start.

S O W H A T M A K E S A N E F F E C T I V E M A N U A L ?

Organisation - Good manuals are well-structured with comprehensive table of contents and index.
Content - The material focuses on user tasks, provides clear instructions and is concise.
Appearance - The presentation is attractive with plenty of white space, and are packaged in booklets that are easy to use.
Language - The text is easy to read and aimed specifically at the users.
What to Avoid - Users dislike manuals that are: inaccurate, contain too much detail, talks down to people, is too formal, is poorly presented and/or organised.
How to Write User Manuals was written by David Tuffley, a specialist documentation consultant since 1990 has worked with large public and private sector clients in Australia and the United Kingdom.

NOTE: The Excerpt available from this web-page is a template that writers of user manuals can use. The book is built around this template, and explains in detail the process. Project staff with passable writing skills can use this guide to write a quality user manual.

About the Author

David Tuffley
Member since: Apr 2011
Publications on XinXii:  25

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David Tuffley PhD is lecturer and researcher at Griffith University in Australia. David is a Software Engineer, though his interests range across Comparative Religion, Philosophy, Psychology, Anthropology, Literature, History, and Architecture.

David has been an academic since 1999. Before academia he was a consultant for public and private sector IT clients in Australia and the United Kingdom. He combines theory and practice in a focussed and disciplined way that has proved effective for solving problems for clients.

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