The book has a 6-page index formatted in 3 column. Two levels of index entries are used. The page references are set about a half inch away from the text entries. If you are working freelance or as part of an independent documentation firm, you may have to write a proposal in an effort to win a contract to do a certain technical documentation project. Prototype and specifications Important planning tools, which also serve as useful reference tools during a documentation project, include the prototype of the user guide and the specifications for the user guide.
Specifications are descriptions of a book design in table form.
Specifications describe every unique component or element of a book, so that it can be recreated by someone who might not have access to the electronic files, templates or styles of that book. A template is an electronic file that defines such aspects of the user guide as page size, headers and footers, page-numbering style, regular and special page layout, and other such detail. A style catalog is also an electronic thing that defines the format and style of textual elements such as headings, headers, footers, lists, paragraphs, tables, and so on. You as writer then implement those comments and produce a new draft for these same people to review again. As you can see, a user guide brings together many of the topics covered in this online textbook.