A Guide to Publishing User Manuals

To start a software company and develop the product in UK, I looked for books about writing user manuals. Other books focus on how to write good contents. But this book focuses on how to create a good format. In the process of the manual production, I had to make a decision whether I create the manual internally or ask any technical documentation companies. By interviewing the technical documentation companies, I found that I had to provide contents anyway. However, the structure of contents depends on how to format the manual. By adopting the exact manual structure suggested in this book, I first defined the format of the manual , wrote the contents by myself and asked a technical editor to correct them for mistakes in grammar. By using this process, I could write a manual with a short time and less confusion. This book made me realize that the user manual writing is like a database development, putting the right details of information into the right layer of the document (Chapter, Sub chapter, note, etc). And I had never realized that I had to use so many fonts to write a nice looking manual and that there are font designers who spend their life to create new fonts. In next edition, It will be helpful if the book provides a enclosed diskette which contains templates.

If you wish to self-publish and you use Framemaker or Ventura software, this book is for you. I've read numerous books on the subject, but none so detailed (and accurate). Takes you from Style Designs and Page Layout to Graphics and Final Publication. This is written for the DTP user who is looking for help in using the software as well as tips to develop a professional publication, whether it is a manual or book. A ten star rating without question