Trends in User Manual for Software 2018 – 2019

Having access to a user manual when you are not an expert will always be helpful. Think about receiving a new appliance and having to set it up. Without the user manual, a lot of us will be lost. You can find user manuals for just about anything, and technical writers work hard to have it make sense to the user. The user manuals can sometimes be a bit complicated to understand, but that comes down to the writer.

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Behind every user manual is someone who wrote it. Although there are standards to adhere to, writers do have their styles. Writing a user manual for software is not as easy as it sounds. A lot of knowledge of the product, combined with research, is required. If you are in the process of writing your first user manual but you’re not sure how to consider these tips.

Be the user

When writing a user manual, you have to become the user for a while. Put all your knowledge aside for a minute and see if the manual makes sense to you. This is an essential step because it allows you to step into the moment the user will need the information.

What challenges would they be experiencing that this manual can solve? Before you can do this, you need to figure out who the user is. Research the type of people who would buy the software and what challenges you can solve with your knowledge.

Clear step by step instructions

Most users will rely on the manual to give them some guidance. If the manual is complicated to understand, they are more likely to seek help somewhere else. This would then make the user manual of no value to the client.

People also enjoy lists that give them the information and steps easily. Huge blocks of text can often confuse the consumer and prevent them from even attempting to use the manual. Keep it short and in point form. You want to avoid sounding like a robot in your manual. Instead, understand that this is a professional booklet, but write in an easy-to-read way.

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Go beyond research

As the user manual writer, it would be impossible if you do not know the product better than the client. You can easily find manual writing software, and many of these work well. Just make sure that you can conveniently share your information.

Research the software, but also use the product yourself. This will help you understand the glitches it might have, by which you can include a solution. A user manual is there to guide the setup process, but it is also the first tool to use when a problem occurs. At this moment, your writing should provide a solution, and it can only be achieved if you understand the issues.

Find a template

Instead of starting from scratch on your first user manual, you can find helpful templates online. These templates will make your life much easier and provide an excellent structure guide. You do have the option of creating your manual and template, but it takes a lot more time than is necessary.

If you were to do an online search right now, you would be surprised by the options available. Not every template is excellent, so you have to search until you find a good one. This will serve you well in the future in your career as a technical writer. The process can be intimidating initially, but it is usually doable with some hard work and practice.

High quality

There are a lot of good technical writers out there, but you should not sell yourself short. Finding your place in the market as a writer can be challenging. It is expected for technical writers to produce high-quality work. There needs to be a lot of proofreading and editing before you submit your work.

You can easily find a grammar checker to ensure that you don’t have any language mistakes in your manual. Seeing as this is not a creative writing piece or a blog post, you don’t have any gaps for errors. When you are writing for entertainment, people are accepting of a few clichés and minimal mistakes. This does not apply to technical writing, so you have to ensure that your writing is of the highest quality.

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Emerging Trends in Technical Writing

Informal Tone

As mentioned, writing in your tone will always engage any user. This has never been the case for technical writing, especially not for software. Of course, you have to do your writing in a way that helps the user, but it no longer needs to be so formal. People engage when they know a human being is behind the text.

Living in a digital-based time, we are no longer interested in that professional tone that no one can decipher. Technical writers can now catch a bit of a break by merely writing the way they speak. It is probably a better idea for the users of manuals as well. The average person is interested in solving a problem when consulting a manual. If you can communicate solutions effectively without confusion, the user, you are doing it right.

Software User Assistance

This trend has been finding flow for a while now, and it is going to hit a peak before 2019. When writing a software user manual, many clients don’t understand how the program works. This is very common, and user assistance takes the frustration out of the equation. Being guided by a program to install your software to help you troubleshoot an issue is beneficial to the end-user.

If you could just hit one button and your problem is automatically repaired, it would be welcomed by any user. This is where we are heading, and it’s exciting. It’s like having your expert on the screen to help with issues you are experiencing. It’s practical and saves a lot of time and money. The software company would receive fewer calls, which means decreased staff numbers, and the ripple effect continues.

Mobile Use

We use our mobile phones more than desktops to browse the internet. It only seems fit that mobile use of user manuals be made available. Technical writers have seen a lot of change in how they approach their writing. Using your mobile phone to solve a problem has never been easier. You could be guided through a process on your mobile while applying it to your desktop.

Mobile versions are usually more comfortable, and the navigation process is streamlined. This can be in the form of tutorials. It is based on actionable steps to the problems the user is experiencing. The tutorials can also be adapted to the user’s needs and no longer bulks everything into one booklet. Depending on the need at the time, the user can quickly navigate to the section based on their issue.

Specialists’ vs. Tech Writers

There are some areas of expertise that only the experts can write about. We see this trend continue to emerge, hitting the pockets of many technical writers. It seems as if the future of writing user manuals belongs to the specialists. This does not necessarily mean that professional writers will fall away. There might be some changes in what they do. Editing and proofreading seem to be where this is going.

This is not the case with every user manual, but more for those software products that only the creators can honestly know. Instead of frowning upon the idea, technical writers should see this as an opportunity to collaborate with these experts and specialists. You can still write the user manual if you have all the information. It’s just a trend, and who knows what positive vibes it can bring to the future of technical writing.

Conclusion

Trends are never forever, and it changes continuously. Some trends take years to reach their full potential, and others fall away or are replaced. As a writer, you always have to stay updated with these trends. This allows you to be relevant to the needs of the clients you work with and gain success with the readers.

Becoming an expert in your writing field means knowing what is happening in the industry. Constantly research these trends annually to know what to do and what not to do. It’s like being a doctor. If there are new solutions to old problems, you need to know what is going on. Technical writing is not for the faint-hearted or the creatives. It’s for those with excellent writing skills who are not scared of a little extra work.