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A user guide is essentially a book-length document containing instructions on installing, using, or troubleshooting a hardware or software product. A user guide can be very brief—for example, only 10 or 20 pages or it can be a full-length book of 200 pages or more. While this definition assumes computers, a user guide can provide operating instructions on practically anything—lawnmowers, microwave ovens, dishwashers, and so on.

The more complex the product, the greater the page count. When this happens, some elements of the user guide get split out into their own separate volumes—especially the installation procedures, troubleshooting procedures, and the commands. A user guide can even contain a brief tutorial—for example, getting users started using the product—but if there is too much tutorial, it too goes into a separate book.

See examples of user guides.

Style and Format for User Guides

A user guide is a combination of many things presented in this online textbook. At its core is instruction writing; you need to be good at the writing style, headings, lists, notices, highlighting, tables, graphics commonly used in instructions. (For an overview of these elements, see the page-design chapter in this online textbook.) As a set of instructions, a user guide should use the style and format that is presented elsewhere in this online textbook:

Instructions—and therefore user guides—also make abundant use of:

Components of User Guides

As a book, a user guide must have some combination of the standard book-design components such as the following:

There is no standard combination or sequence of these elements; every company does it differently. Details on the contents, format, and design of these elements can be found in the book-design chapter.

Information Included in User Guides

Here's review the common contents of user guides:

Descriptive Examples of User Guides

Consider these examples.

Note: Not all of the following styles and formats are not necessarily recommended. Get in touch using the e-mail address at the bottom of this page if you have questions.

Delarina WinFax LITE User's Guide. This book is 5.5 × 8.5 inches and under 150 pages. It uses by-chapter pagination, with new chapters and sections beginning on a righthand page.

IBM Aptiva Reference Guide. This book is also 8.5 × 5.5 inches. It is uses consecutive page numbering throughout the book and is about 120 pages long.


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