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Subject:Re: What are the differences? From:"D. Joan Leib" <pisces -at- CHANNEL1 -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 26 Aug 1999 16:53:43 -0400
On Thu, 26 Aug 1999, Kevin Feeman wrote:
> My question is, what the heck is the difference
> between reference manuals and user guides. I always thought they would be
> pretty similar, have a lot of the same information such as theory,
> definitions, screen shot descriptions, and the like, but the user guide
also
> has steps and procedures.
To use an analogy, a dictionary is a reference manual. Strunk & White is a
user guide.
In other words, a reference manual gives a list of functions or concepts,
preferably in alphabetical order, and explains each one briefly. A user
guide explains the entire application in general, and then approaches it
in terms of tasks to be accomplished. For example, the MS Word reference
manual would list each menu item and what it does; each submenu item and
what it does; each toolbar button and what it does; and so forth. The MS
Word user's guide would then explain things like "Here's how you create
and save a document," "Here's how you insert and format a table," "Here's
how you customize a style," and so forth.
The above is my opinion only and may bear no resemblance to reality.
