User Manual

Critique of Microsoft’s Word user manual

A user manual is a document written by a technical writer, programmer or member of a technical staff that gives assistance to people using a certain system, program, or machine. The manual intends to reach its audience and explain concepts and ideas thoroughly. Typically, the manual will use language relevant to the issue and contain screenshots, or diagrams to eliminate confusion when using the program, system, or machine. The reader of the manual should feel as though they have gained adequate knowledge from the manual to complete their task successfully, or become more familiar with the product.

Exposure to a user manual today is inevitable; users will be faced with an issue and will have to consult a manual to seek additional information to resolve it. This paper will review the effectiveness of a manual and its ability to assist and educate a user when problem solving.

The manual I have chosen for my critique is Microsoft’s Word 2007. I have used Word frequently for both personal and business. My familiarity with the program is very high and I have used several versions of Microsoft Word throughout the years. The critique of Microsoft’s Word 2007 will model the quality and efficiency of the Microsoft Access user manual According to Ganier (2007), the criteria are: (1) attractiveness, (2) practicality, (3) simplicity, and (4) efficiency. In doing so, you create a manual that user: (1) will want to read, (2) can read and use, (3) can understand, and (4) can progressively learn from.

An efficient manual will consider: (1) “users need to access information which will enable them to carry out the basic tasks” and, (2) “users need to find the relevant information when difficulties arise” (Ganier et al., pg. 307).

The organizational structure of the manual is a combination of problem/solution, importance, and spatial. The browse feature is organized in a problem/solution format, which makes for easy access to subject...