Motivating end users to read the user manual

[Cal Callahan]

I like Sharon's advice (ask the user directly). But I haven't seen anyone
mention context-sensitive help or conditional text.

I hope the lengthy paragraphs in your query are not representative of your
manuals--that would certainly turn off users.

A couple of guidelines:

KISS--keep it simple, sir.

Tell them what you're going to tell them, tell them what you want to tell
them, then tell them what you told them

Engineers like flow charts and logic diagrams, so fire up your Visio and try
to put the points across that way.

And everyone likes pictures, so see where you can use those. (Many people
are visually oriented and don't like to read.)

I hope I haven't insulted your intelligence. I'm just picking trees out of
the forest.

cal