Organization of a user manual using the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) standard breaks information into three levels: Task, Concept, and Reference. The rationale is as follows:

  • This minimalist approach creates reusable, single-source content that outputs to multiple publishing formats.
  • Task-based content focuses on the user’s needs making the document usable and accessible.

Design can improve readability, usability and retention. Here are some tips:

  • Use colour to make elements stand out (but don’t overuse and create visual noise).
  • Use an appropriate font for your audience but in general, serif body text is easier to read, and sans-serif is more legible for titles.
  • Use headings, white space, and lists to break up content and improve readability and scanning.
  • Use bullets for unordered lists and numbers for ordered lists.
  • Highlight key points using italics, boldface, colour, icons, or indents.
  • Keep design elements consistent to improve readability. Inconsistencies interrupt the reader and the flow of information. Visual noise makes the reader work harder at understanding the document.

Visuals help the reader understand complex data and reinforce concepts. Visuals also aid retention as people remember visual information better than text. Here are some tips:

  • Use visuals that are appropriate, relevant and serve a purpose.
  • Use visuals that are high quality to maintain credibility, readability, usability, and design standards.
  • Avoid repetitive images.
  • Keep labels consistent.
  • Provide explanations for images and keep them close to the related text (but after).

Language is another consideration to improve clarity, retention, and usability. Here are some tips:

  • Use imperative active voice in the present tense.
  • Use language that is user-centric (writing should match the audience).
  • Avoid dangling modifiers.
  • Use consistent naming conventions (e.g. “choose” or “select”).
  • Orientate the reader first, and then provide the instruction (e.g. From the File menu, click Save from the drop-down menu).
  • Use parallelism to make the content readable and usable.

Bonus tips:

  • Understand your audience and create an effective, useful, and readable document.
  • Provide the right information, at the right time, and in the right place to meet task goals.