10 helpful tips for creating a user guide
How can you create a really effective user guide? Gather your colleagues for a session to pull information, and start with the basic layout of your document. Naturally, you'll need the perfect place to create a template that lives in your workspace and can be easily edited and accessed.Â
1. Write for your audience
What users do you have? Are they technical or new to the business? When you write for who your users are you ensure the correct language, complexity, and design of your user guide.
2. Focus on layout
Use eye-catching design elements and easy-to-follow layouts to make your guide visually appealing. Highlight key content with colour and images and include interactive elements like buttons and tabs to make it enticing to read on. Confluence add-ons - such as Content Formatting Macros for Confluence - make creating a smart user guide quick and easy.
3. Consider usability
While it’s key to break up text with headings, bullet points, and icons to make information digestible, also consider how it would look printed, on a mobile device, or tablet. Users will grab the information in many different ways, and your marketing teams might also want to slice and dice any content from your user guide too, so think broadly.
4. Cut the jargon
A great tip for any document in business is to avoid jargon and technical terms that might confuse your audience unless you are writing for a technical team. Even if you have something very detailed and complex, include a glossary of terms, explain acronyms, and keep the rest of your language simple.
5. Structure using logic
It’s really important to organise your user guide information in a logical order. Don’t forget that readers may be in a rush, time-poor, or facing an issue. An index and contents page should be used, and more basic concepts should always be shared before more advanced tips. For example, ‘quick start’ instructions should come before troubleshooting.