Tutorials and Quick Guides A quick introduction

Overview  Genre of Tutorial  Genre of Quick Guide  Genre of Reference  Genre of User Manual  Attributes of Both  Differences  Choosing a Type  Good Documentation

Genre of Tutorial  For novice users  Often interactive or designed to use alongside the program (can be video or text)  Scripted  Gives guides to primary tasks of programs  Often instructs as to “why” something is useful  Takes a long time to use

Genre of Quick Start  Also called Tip Sheet or Quick Reference  Highly structured  Organized by main tasks  Short (1-3 pages max.)  Good for intermediate users and up  Limited use of Graphics graphics

Genre of Reference  Structured by broad topic or alphabetical and very detailed (e.g. command or menu driven)  At times like a very extended quick guide  Information intensive  Designed for intermediate and expert or“Power Users”  Will include instructions for IT folks  Generally have few graphics

Reference Index

Reference Page

Genre of User Manual  Is extremely complete  Audience ranges from new users through intermediate to expert or “Power Users” as well as IT folks  Has layout features similar to Reference manual

Common Attributes to All  Nearly all use visuals  Use journalistic or business style of language  Often use “implied you” for directions.  Have different levels of complexity for different users and different user needs.

Differences in Types  Guiding – procedures discrete tasks ( help or tip sheets, quick guides )  Teaching – task oriented, often introductory ( tutorials )  Reference – support documentation ( manuals, info for IT folks, books )

Choosing Documentation Genre  Ask who the users are/what they know  Ask what their goal is  Ask how much time they have

Good Documentation is  User friendly - What does this mean? (Think about the samples you’ve found and documentation that you have used.)  Fits the needs of the audience  Is easy to read and find information quickly if text based