Motivating end users to read the user manual

[Mike Wickham]

> When making diagrams and inserting pictures, I would suggest using some 
> colors. Colors
> definitely add to the visual appeal. A colorful manual is definitely going 
> to catch the user
> attention. What say?

Color type, though, (example: color headlines) can have a severely negative 
effect on reader comprehension, according to the studies in Colin Wheildon's 
_Type and Layout_. His study showed 70% "good" comprehension with black 
type, compared to only 10% good comprehension for high-chroma color type. 
It's a nice book that covers studies of the effects on comprehension of 
serif vs. sans serif type, reverse type, color type, bold vs. italic, 
justification and more. The book is a good read, available at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Type-Layout-Communicating-Making-Pretty/dp/1875750223/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242936596&sr=1-1

Mike Wickham