User manuals help the user adapt a technology to his or her purpose. The sale of any complex technology, whether computer, car, tape recorder, or spectroscope, implies the inclusion of adequate information to enable the user to use the technology safely 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 skilled operators to use the technology, and instructing technicians in 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 of a specialized manual such as a repair manual, an installation manual, a maintenance manual, or an operating manual.
General style for user manuals should be clear and concise. The following section from an OCR scanning manual demonstrates clear manual organization and style.
Chapter 3
Scanning Tips
This section explains how to achieve the best recognition accuracy possible. See the online Help
for more detailed information.
Improve OCR Accuracy
OCR accuracy depends on the quality of the scanned image. You'll have very few errors if you
scan sharp, laser-printed documents. Scanning faxes, dot matrix documents, and poorly printed
pages may produce unacceptable results.
Take the following factors into account when you scan a page:
- 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
