Section 2.8.2.2

User Documentation

User manuals help the user adapt a technology to his or herpurpose. The sale of any complex technology, whether computer,car, tape recorder, or spectroscope, implies the inclusion ofadequate information to enable the user to use the technologysafely and effectively. A good manual (hard copy or electronic)is a necessary tool to enable the user to use the technology. User manuals are valuable aids for training inexperienced users, enabling skilledoperators to use the technology, and instructing techniciansin how to repair or modify the technology.

User manuals generally provide the following information:

These topics may all be treated together in a larger manual, or any of them may be the subject ofa specialized manual such as a repair manual, an installation manual, a maintenance manual, oran operating manual.

User Manual Style

General style for user manuals should be clear and concise. The following section from an OCR scanning manualdemonstrates clear manual organization and style.

• The print should be reasonably clean and crisp.
• The documents should be free of notes, lines, or doodles; anything that is not a printed character will slow OmniPage Limited Edition considerably.
• The document font must be non-stylized; for example, the Zapf Chancery font is too fancy for OmniPage Limited Edition.
• It's hard to recognize underlined text accurately; the underline changes the shape of descenders on the letters q, g, y, p, and j.
• The sheet of glass on the flatbed of the scanner must be clean.

--Caere Corporation, OmniPage Limited Edition Manual

## User Documentation ##


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