Critique of Manual

Running head: MICROSOFT OFFICE 2010 CRITIQUE

Microsoft Office 2010 Critique

Mario Montes Munoz

University of Phoenix

Fundamentals of Technical Writing

Eng221

Vanessa D Murray

September 25, 2012

Microsoft Office 2010 Critique

“ Owner’s or user’s manuals are reference documents designed for use with individual pieces of equipment. They often contain elements of several manual types – including instructions, operations, and maintenance – and they are usually designed for both expert and lay audience”. (Dobrin, Keller, & Weisser, 2010) The manual I have chosen for my critique is Microsoft’s Word 2010. In the paper, the critique will be based on the manuals organization, layout, use of visuals and written instructions.

Organization

The user manual is organized well and easy to follow. Following a well-designed title page, the table of context is on the first page showing the reader the many available features within Microsoft Word. Each main section title has bold face text to identify the section followed by the subsections that fall into the section. This permits the reader to see the available features and help them find the feature they need to learn about quickly. Every main section and subsection is identified by the page number to the right in a chronological order. The topics are also listed in a logical order that goes from the introduction to requirements/disclosures.

Layout

“A ‘layout’ can mean one or both of two things: the order in which the information is presented, or the way the information appears on the page or screen and the relationship between the graphic elements on the page or screen”. (Macleod) The layout of the manual stands out in one large way by the use of headings. The headings are large, boldface font with differenct colors to assist the reader find specific topics. Reading through the manaual I could see a very large font and color to identify the main sections for the manual,a smaller font and different color...