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Subject:Re: Trn'g Guides/Manuals vs User Guides/Man'ls From:"Jane Bergen" <jane -dot- bergen -at- usa -dot- net> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 1 Nov 2000 13:28:23 -0600
I don't have the book at work, but William Horton's book, "Writing and
Documenting Online Documentation" (2nd ed.) has a very good discussion of
differences in instructional material versus procedural material versus
reference material and so on. If you can find a copy of that book, it
might help. You might also search for some training or courseware
development web sites.... they may explain the differences.
I'm not sure that your descriptions are correct...the differences are more
in the presentation and organization of material. For example, a training
manual contains an "objective" for each unit, exercises to practice,
perhaps a summary, etc. Some training manuals have no indexes (which I
feel is a big mistake, but I've seen it a lot). A training manual also is
less linear than a user guide.
A user guide can be procedural or procedural with reference material, as
can a training manual.
Jane Bergen
----- Original Message -----
From: <bogucki91030 -at- yahoo -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Sent: Wednesday, November 01, 2000 11:44 AM
Subject: Trn'g Guides/Manuals vs User Guides/Man'ls
> How can I sum up in a few sentences the differences
> between training guides and the general user guides?
>
> I thought something like - Training guides include
> less ref info (explaining buttons and functions etc.,
> since you're likely to include that verbally in the
> class) and more step by step with specific examples.
> Regular user guides have more ref info and the step by
> step tasks may or may not be real examples.
>
> I am writing job descriptions and trying to find lines
> of demarcation.
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