Words: 331
Instructions were given, followed by the occasional image or graph depicting the given instructions. However, I thought that the images should have been given directly with the text in the steps so that it would have a more “step-by-step” layout. I thought that more visuals should have been presented, and that the text should have been more in line with the visuals that were presented. An example of this (Example A below) is on the very first section of the manual, entitled “Getting Started”.
Here you see the steps that the user can take, but no actual text describing how to actually to any of them (Example: “1 . Open a Recent Diagram”): Example During this course, I have come to the conclusion that content does in fact matter when it comes to designing a user manual. Providing thorough step-by-step instructions along with straight forward visuals, I feel, will make almost any user manual easier to understand, especially for those users who either are not familiar tit the product or who are not technically efficient at understanding complex instructions.
An example of this is found under the “Document Manager” section of the user manual (Example B): Example B Here, the user manual provides clear step-by-instructions on how to access the Document Manager. It even highlights the area on the screen by circling the item in orange. Unfortunately, there are not enough examples of this within the user manual. On the points of Layout and Content, I have to say that the Glorify online user annual falls short.
I definitely would have liked to have seen a more “step-by-step” approach both in the wording and structure of the instructions as well as more visuals that explain the steps. While the information provided in the user manual was technically accurate, I thought that it also would prove to be difficult for an average user to both understand and follow along. References Glorify. (2013, October 13).