Online Manuals

The term online manual is used to describe any manual which can be accessed and browsed via a computer. Another term commonly used is hypertext. The most commonly used online manuals are the help systems that are part of many computer applications. Increasingly, however, organizations are making their internal manuals available on their Web sites.

Advantages of Online Manuals

Here are some of the advantages of online manuals over paper manuals:

• manuals can be updated rapidly, usually by changing a single file, so readers always get up-to-date information
• the online software provides hot linking (the ability to jump from one place to another), keyword search, or character-string search to help readers find information quickly
• many documents can be linked together to create an infobase, so that clicking on a cross-reference in one manual takes the reader directly into another manual
• printing costs can be dramatically reduced

Is Your Organization Ready for Online Manuals?

While the technology for providing online manuals has been available for more than a decade, online organization manuals have not been widely used because of problems such as:

• hardware incompatibility
• software incompatibility
• lack of networking

For most organizations, the question is not whether a paper manual or an online manual should be produced, but whether a paper manual andan online manual should be produced. Paper manuals will probably always be needed for the following reasons:

• some staff (often senior management) are not comfortable with computers, however user friendly
• you can take paper manuals home, read them on the bus, or send copies to other organizations
• it’s easier to read large amounts of text on paper
• some kinds of information are more appropriately provided in paper form

As a result, online manuals are usually provided in addition to paper manuals. This means that instead of maintaining one manual, you’ll be maintaining two.

Information That Belongs Online

Not all information belongs online. Some information is better off in paper form. Here are some of the types of information which work well online:

• application end-user manuals, preferably context sensitive (when the help button is pushed, the help information is related to the function currently being performed on the computer)
• reference manuals, including policies and procedures manuals
• self-paced tutorials
• directories

Here are some of the types of information that don’t work well online:

• large amounts of text that must be read
• software installation instructions
• procedural information that will be used away from the desk (such as anything in a field guide)

Publishing on the World Wide Web

With the rapid growth of the World Wide Web and HTML (hypertext markup language), manuals for the public can be published on the internet. Corporate intranets have also made HTML publishing possible for manuals for internal use—manuals that were once distributed by mail can now be accessed on the corporate Web site.

HTML is a universal "language" that can be "read" by all computers, whether they’re MacIntosh, IBM-compatible, or Unix. The internet eliminates problems of hardware and software incompatibility. It also allows use of multimedia and instant access to downloadable files, programs, or graphics.

Tools are available from software retailers to help you convert your word processor files to HTML. You’ll need to work with your Internet Service Provider to create and maintain your Web site.

Online Manual Software

Online software is used to interface between the reader and the electronic text. The software provides the search tools (such as keyword search and hot linking) required to let readers quickly locate information. Otherwise, using online manuals would be no different than simply giving your readers a copy of the word processor files and letting them browse through the manual.

Some online software can only be used with a certain type of computer system (such as PCs), so your options will be largely determined by the type of computer system your organization has. Ask your software retailer for a list of products which will work with your system.

Many online manual software programs have two parts to the program: one part for creating the online manuals, and the other part for viewing them. Organizations need to purchase site licences for each computer on which the viewer is installed. Viewers provide read-only access to the manual—readers can browse through the manual, even print sections off, but they can’t change the manual in any way.

Page Formatting vs. Screen Formatting

In designing your online manual, remember that the page and the monitor screen are different and require different design decisions. Keep these things in mind as you plan your online manual:

• the screen, rather than the page, is the natural unit of the manual
• for optimum legibility, your screen layout may be different than your page layout
• typesizes may be different
• colour can be used as a heading level attribute
• colour is used to designate a jump (an electronic link between two different locations) or pop-up (when you click on a pop-up, a piece of text, such as a definition pops up)
• not all the same page control information will be needed

One of the big complaints about some online manuals is the tendency of getting lost, or losing track of where you are. Most systems now have a back button which allows readers to retrace their steps. Some authors of online manuals are using a heading numbering system to help readers remain oriented.

Getting Ready for Online Manuals

Even if your organization is not currently using online manuals, there are a number of things you should be doing to prepare. That way, when your paper manuals are eventually converted to online form, the process will run smoothly and your online manuals will be consistent.

Here are the things you should be doing now to prepare for online manuals:

• establish and use standard guidelines for the organization, writing and formatting of your manuals
• use the same word processing software for all manuals
• ensure your documents have a consistent and logical structure
• use styles—don’t hard code every heading (specifying the typeface and size of each heading each time a heading is used)
• use the automated utilities of your word processing software, such as the automated table of contents, index and cross-referencing, since these electronic links will be used in the online manual