The Ancestral Territorial Imperatives of the Trumpeter Swan

[David Neeley <dbneeley -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Believe it or not, that was the title used instead of "Getting
Started" in the early 1980s manual for the Franlin Ace 100 computer,
and for its replacement the Ace 1000.

See excerpts and why they used it in reproductions at the Ironic Sans blog.

<http://www.ironicsans.com/>

Which brings me to something of a lament that most manuals today seem
to lack personality, let alone humor.

I have long been a fancier of a very conversational style for user
manuals (within reason, of course)--avoiding the stuffy verbiage that
so often seems to stem from an over-reliance on a legal department.

There's something about users enjoying a manual that seems to me to
mean it may be more memorable, inviting a user into it--and, with
luck, cutting down on user frustration and tech support overhead at
the same time.

I can imagine that most docs managers today would have a heart attack
over the Franklin approach, though.

David
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