There are some different types of the guide too. Such as User guide, Career guide, Tour guide, Guideline or guidance.
All these types of Guides perform the same thing, they lead you to the objective and talks about how to do the job. Although the main objective of both manual and guide is to provide some instruction, there are some key differences between these two. Such as:. A manual will describe all the features of a product in a certain manner and will tell you the technical terms of how to use those features and how to maintain the product.
Manuals usually come with machinery products, consumer products, electronic devices that need a special hand to assemble, operate and taking care. The product manual will work as a virtual technician from the factory.
A guide will tell you about the product in short and only how to use it, not how to repair it. The guide can tell you how to get started with the product, it may include some basic features that are needed to get started with it, but the in-depth instruction is found in the manual, not the guide. When you will look at a manual, it usually comes as a written book format where the detailed descriptions are more elaborated in a formal way that speaks for the professionalism of the manufacturer.
But a guide can be anything, like a written book or a little card, a simple note, audio you can find online or a video you can watch anywhere. The guide is more of a simple and informal presentation of any product. If I get the dilemma into account and try to elaborate in simple words, say you brought a sewing machine that comes in unassembled.
You will have to open up the manual book and go through the instructions to assemble it and set it up on the space you want.
But a guide may not even come with the machine in the box! Asked 9 years, 8 months ago. Active 4 years, 10 months ago. Viewed k times. What are the differences between the three, especially in this context: User manual User guide User instruction.
Improve this question. Gigili Gigili 5, 16 16 gold badges 40 40 silver badges 75 75 bronze badges. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Improve this answer. DAE 1, 12 12 silver badges 36 36 bronze badges. A fantastic and thorough answer. Does anyone actually say "vade mecum"? Pacerier You'll find it in some industries and occupations.
It probably isn't a word you would use in anything consumer-facing, except to be humorously pretentious. Erling Nielsen Erling Nielsen 61 1 1 silver badge 3 3 bronze badges. IMHO, there's only two types of documentation; Reference Material Instructional Material From here onwards, you can start building or expanding certain documentation requirements specific or as required by law to a product or service.
Amir Amir 11 1 1 bronze badge. Summarizing: Manual focuses on the Object device : How to operate it. Guide focuses on all the capacities of the device. Instruction focuses on leading you to do determined tasks on a device.
Featured on Meta. Now live: A fully responsive profile. This can be a challenge when using technical language. Overall, documentation can be divided into a couple of different categories: process documentation and product documentation. Process documentation is designed for those working in the internet technology field, and it uses industry-specific jargon about the process of engineering and developing the software.
Product documentation describes the product and how it is to be used. However, these categories are further divided. Product documentation includes both system documentation, which is technical, and user documentation, which should not be too technical.
There is a difference between system documentation and user documentation. In the information systems world, system documentation is much more technical. It is geared toward an advanced or specialized reader, such as a systems administrator or IT professional.
User documentation is descriptive language designed to speak to the average user of the software or system as opposed to an IT professional or other technical professional. It is designed to explain to the average person how to properly install and use the software or service. User documentation may also include best practices for optimal results, describe features and the benefits of those features and can include a description of different tips and tricks for maximizing software performance as well as how to customize the software so it works best for each user and the intended task.
Software documentation can include an explanation of the purpose of different settings and how to manipulate them, menus and other customization options within the software once it has been installed.
User documentation has to be written in language the average person can understand, whereas system documentation is written from a much more technical standpoint. This can be a challenge for a technical professional.
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