Writing and Designing Manuals, Third Edition Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Writing and Designing Manuals, Third Edition? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Writing and Designing Manuals, Third Edition. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Writing and Designing Manuals, Third Edition ReviewOverview
The first chapter may seem a bit preachy at first, about how manual writers are underappreciated and overlooked by companies. But reading between these lines, you can get a good overview about which factors play a part in writing a manual. And those are a lot more factors then I first realized. To write a good manual, a technical writer needs access to all information about the product, from the programming to the production process, to the helpdesk set up.
The book covers almost every one of these aspects of writing a manual.
*How to structure a manual
*Selecting what is important about a product to put in the manual
*How to write and use the proper language for a manual
*Graphics, photographs, exploded views, diagrams, tables
*Lay out, the impact of the placing text and images
*Manual user analysis
There are even chapters on less obvious things, like the materials on which the manual will be printed, on translating and international conventions, and a chapter fully dedicated to the differences between service manuals and operator manuals, as well as an equal amount of details on how to write each of these.

The good
The book describes quite effectiverly about how a manual is a designed product, and not just something extra. Take for example how the environment the manual will be used in affects the writing of the manual. In case of the manual being used whilst the user is also using the product, the manual should be as direct as possible. No references, no turning of pages, no extra places to look up information.
There is a good and revelating chapter on product and company liability and lawsuits. It clearly explains why it is important for a company to have a good manual with sufficient warnings and how what role the manual plays next to being a set of instructions. It shows insights in product liability lawsuits and what a company has to do to protect their customers, third parties and themselves.
All chapters and topics discussed within are clearly illustrated with many examples of things that can go wrong with manuals and explain why things go wrong. But they also give examples of good manuals and explain why they are good manuals. All these examples in the book are actual exerts and illustrations from published manuals.
Each chapter closed with a useful summary and a checklist, which can be used to check your own manual for details discussed in the chapter. These checklists can be a great help in validating your own manual writing process. The bad
Written in 2000, the book can feel a bit outdated from time to time. Especially when the writers talk about new digital media that can help a technical writer make a manual. Also some examples of company structure are sometimes outdated.Conclusion
I can recommend this book as an introduction to manual writing. It provides a good overview of all the disciplines that are required for writing a good manual. An Industrial Design student should be able to find additional information on particular disciplines addressed based on what is written in the book.
Writing and Designing Manuals, Third Edition Overview

Want to learn more information about Writing and Designing Manuals, Third Edition?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now