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Before writing a manual for your own product, look at other effective user manuals. Pay attention to the structure, word choice, and sentence style. Major brands like Apple, Google, and Microsoft produce strong, effective user manuals that can help you produce a more thoughtfully written user manual. Don't just read any user manuals. Read the manuals for similar products that you are selling. For example, if you're selling baby products, read baby manuals, not tech. Standardizing spelling, word choice, and phrasing will make the user manual more user-friendly. The Chicago Manual of Style and the Microsoft Manual of Style might also be useful style guides when writing your user manual; consult both to see if one will work for your manual. For instance, instead of using both "on/off switch" and "power switch" in your user manual, choose one or the other term and stick with it. Active voice is a perspective in writing that explains things from the user's perspective. It is easier to understand than its alternative, passive voice, in which the subject is undefined. Try the Hemingway App (www.hemmingwayapp.com) to identify passive passages in your writing. Examine these two sentences, the first active and the other passive, for examples of each: You should open the package slowly and carefully. The package should be opened slowly and carefully. Numerically ordered instructions will help the reader stay more focused on the process of using, connecting, or building the product in question. Instead of writing a long, rambling paragraph, or a series of un-numbered paragraphs, write your user manual with simple, explicit steps, each numbered clearly. An imperative is an action-oriented verb. By starting each step with a verb, you will clue the reader in to the action required to complete the step. For instance, depending on the product you're writing about, you might begin your steps with imperatives like "Connect," "Attach," or "Slide." Do not begin your steps with a system response, however. For example, if the screen will turn blue and blink, don't start the step with: "The screen will blink and turn blue." Try: "Press and hold the home key. The screen will blink and turn blue." If you're writing a yo-yo user manual, your audience will be mostly young children. Use simple words and vocabulary in order to explain how the yo-yo works. If you're writing a user manual for a scanning electron microscope, your audience will be highly trained scientists who can understand highly detailed information, so don't shrink from using specialized vocabulary or nuanced explanations. In general, try to avoid jargon and technical language. To be effective to the broadest array of users, try to write at a sixth to seventh grade reading level. Hire a translator to translate your user manual into the native language of the country that you are shipping your product to. Alternatively, use an online translating app, but ask a native speaker read over and edit the translation for errors. If there are multiple language groups represented in your audience, include translations of the user manual in each relevant language. The translator should be familiar with the product, as there may be different words for specific terms in the target language that not are word-for-word translations. Instead of a few long paragraphs, use many short paragraphs. Look for logical breaks in each section and put useful information into one or two-sentence chunks. The same applies at the sentence level. Keep your sentences short and simple, rather than long and rambling. If a step is starting to get too long, break it up into smaller steps. This won't cause the word-count to go down, but the line breaks will make it easier to read. A manual can lose credibility due to grammar and spelling mistakes. Have a coworker or technical writer edit and proofread the manual as well. In addition to spelling and grammar, a proofreader should look for: Passive voice Ambiguous or confusing language Complicated sentence structure Overly long paragraphs
Read other user manuals. Select your standards. Use active voice. Write numbered instructions. Start each step with an imperative. Decide what kind of vocabulary you'll use. Ensure your translations are accurate if you are shipping a product overseas. Keep your writing brief. Proofread the manual.