Chapter 21 – Preparing Instructions and Manuals
Chapter 21 provides excellent guidelines and information on how to create effective and usable instructions. Instructions have to be usable because someone will depend on that instruction to tell them how to perform a task. Analyzing your audience, task, & genre, effectively using text and visual content, and understanding learning principles will greatly aid you in creating effective instructions.
Principles of Adult Learning
Malcom Knowles researched characteristics of adult learners and comprised this list:
Self-concept. Instructions allow user to asses their prior knowledge and the instructions point user to appropriate place (like a search feature in a electronic help file).
Rationale. People generally like a reason as to why they should do/learn something.
Experience. Analogies and examples, when used well, can enhance learn-ability.
Orientation. Focus on the practical information: what, why, & how.
Motivation. I didn’t quite follow how Burnett ties motivation in with better instructions…something like options to instructions/manuals will appeal to a broader range of motivations I think.
Burnett points out a key factor to consider when developing instructions, aliteracy. People who are aliterate can read, but choose not to. This can be caused by any number of things: don’t have the time, don’t think they need to, or simply don’t want to. Some typcal characteristics of an aliterate reader are…
Scanning text, but not reading the text.
Depending on visuals rather than words for information.
Imbuing color, shape, position, and size with meaning to avoid writing language. I think Burnett means someone sees a picture in an instruction and says, “that’s how it should be” and doesn’t bother reading the instructions.
Analyzing the Task
Burnett identifies 4 categories of instructions…
1. Actions/behavior of personnel
2. Assembly of objects or mechanisms
3. Operation of equipment
4. Implementation of a process
Figure 21.1 on page 779 has four sections with questions to ask yourself when analyzing the task for your instructions.
Section 1 gets you thinking about the steps and detail required for the instructions. Section 2 considers the context in which the instructions will be used.
Section 3 takes into account constraints to completing the task
Section 4 wants you to start relating the task to the audience.
Analyzing the Audience
User-friendly instructions start with the author having a personal interest in the user and the instructions. A conversational tone, using “you”, and action verbs (like turn, push, adjust, etc…) are completely acceptable and help cement the link between instruction, user, and task.
It’s also very important to chunk and label your information effectively as this helps the user distinguish identify and distinguish information. A simple example is don’t bury safety points in the middle of a block of text, keep them separate and preferably in the front of the document to immediately alert the user of safety concerns.
It’s also important to consider international audiences. The world is getting smaller every day and having instructions in multiple languages is required for some products sold world wide. However, instructions that can be effectively depicted entirely with visuals can be universally “read” and understood by anyone from any country. Pages 786 & 787 provided pointers for designing instructions for international audiences, but I though a lot of their points can be applied to all instructions…
- Be consistent in the way words, links, and visuals are used.
- Use visual cue to indicate sequence or direction (like numbered steps or arrows indicating direction/orientation)
- Visually distinguish main steps from details/explanations (font size, type, style, etc..)
Choosing a Genre
The purpose, context and delivery format of your instructions affect how you should plan and design your instructions. Figure 21.6 on p790 provides several examples of purpose and delivery to give you an idea of the different genres of instructions. A key distinction to be made is that between short instructions and manuals. Manuals contain much more information and it’s important to provide users multiple ways to access that information based on their needs (table of contents, glossary, information chunking & organization)
Content
When considering your contend you need to think about your purpose and have a goal statement that matches that. You also want to have clear direct accurate information that people can understand and rationalize with.
Purpose
You need to stick to your purpose so you don’t put any doubt in the viewers mind. Many time the purpose is stated in the title or with the visual aids.
Necessary components
This is where you list all the necessary steps to get the user to the end goal.
Order
Make sure that it is in chronological order. (in most cases)
Select Grammatical Style
This is where you decide if you want to use a short hand version or proper English.
Selecting Visual Aids
You want to select the aids that don’t confuse the user but rather give better instruction than the words.
When using visual aids you need to make sure that you make sure everyting is very clear so that you can be held liable.
