User manuals and technical documents are among the most difficult materials to write. Not only should they express complex technical concepts in simple terms, they should also make it easy for users to find what they’re looking for.
Since most manuals are now available both in print and digital format, it gives the reader more flexibility when trying to find the information they’re looking for. Unfortunately, it also means extra work for the writer who’s in charge of creating the document.
When people want to look for information, their tendency is to use words that are familiar to them. Since you have no hand in your readers’ overall language facility, it’s up to you to try and cover as much as you can to help them out. That means anticipating what the users will look for, apart from putting together a clear guide (with the help of a quality writing software) for them to use.
So, what’s the easiest way to approach this problem? Here’s something we recommend:
- Define the core concepts for each page of the manual.
- Draw up various terms that correspond to these same concepts (i.e. it means the same but written differently, similar to the synonyms of a word).
- Integrate all the terms you come up with into the sentences and paragraphs in the page.
Do you see the value in that? Since you can’t really know how users will look for specific concepts, your best chance of success is to try to cover all your bases. While you aren’t likely to anticipate every possible thing they can search, you should manage to score many of them – and that’s usually better than the majority of guides available out there.
