TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: What are the differences? From:Ute Methner <ute -at- IDIRECT -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 27 Aug 1999 12:59:16 -0500
Kevin asked:
Can someone enlighten me on the differences (preferable without
flaming)
on the user guides and reference guides? Is there a web site that
talks
about the different kinds of documentation including definitions?
The following URLS may be of some help to you, but you also might be
able
to dig up some books explaining the different document types at a
university library, assuming one is near you. Books such
as Mastering Documentation by Bell and Evans, 1989, although relatively
old, still are useful. This book has info on user (Chapter 14)
and reference (Chapter 17) guides.
Now for the URLs. You might want to browse through the material
available from Dave McMurrey's Online technical writing course at
www.io.com/~hcexres/tcm1603/acchtml/models.html. It contains some
good, detailed stuff on user guides.
I found some brief info on, definiton of, etc. a reference manual at
www.deakin.edu.au/~agoodman/scc205/index.html. Scroll down to the
section entitled Lecture Outline. The info is in a pdf file.
