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When writing documentation, don’t treat your readers like idiots. Welcome to my oven's instruction manual. A designer spent time making the graphics. A copywriter painstakingly shaped each line. The sad thing? Nobody has ever used these instructions. A few tips for writing better documentation: __Make it specific__ This doesn’t work because it tries to cover every use case that has ever been made for an oven. __Write for real people__ This document apparently assumes someone who owns an oven has never used one before. __Focus on the hard part__ The documentation ends with “start cooking”, but that’s actually the hard part and where the documentation should focus. There are times when you really want foolproof processes and instructions. But remember that there is such a thing as too much documentation.
What I find unsettling and confusing is the mention of the "heat-safe container". There are several layers of depth hiding there. What's unsafe? How do I know? What could happen if I use an unsafe container?
Jack DeLand
2w
I know lawyerspeak when I see it. (!)
"Select a cooking mode" - wait but which cooking mode? Also I would focus as well on what happens even before the documentation writing: do I necessarily need a manual to understand the icons used on the oven? If yes then something should be improved when the oven is designed.
The most cursed part, for me, is the fact that Step 3 *pretty clearly* shows a raw chicken placed on just the insert for a broiler pan. The part that is full of holes. "Close the door and start cooking" really takes on a threatening aura.
Mike Adams
2w
It does sound sort of basic. But having spent many years reading News of the Weird and visiting Fark, I can assure you that there are people who need instructions even more basic, if not one-on-one training and supervision.
Me being pedantic: Oven cooking? Are we baking? Broiling? Roasting?
A copywriter differs from a technical author. They specialise in creating text for advertising and marketing purposes to sell products. Their expertise lies in crafting persuasive and engaging copy. The goal of a skilled technical author is to provide precise and unambiguous instructions.
James McKie
2w
The chicken isn't even in a heat-safe container on the second picture. Some documentation is sadly in place because safe instruction for use is a legal requirement. It's no excuse to do it this horribly though.
Craig Wright
2w
I’m not going to defend the quality of the instructions, but would argue you really do need to include the basics. Not all ovens turn on and change modes in the same way. Or you have to turn fans on etc., before it will actually turn on. It is the one manual I nearly always have to look at when we rent a cottage.
Storyteller | Technical Writer | Content Designer
2wThe image for Step 3 doesn't include the same ingredients shown in Step 1, and there is no "heat-safe" container in the image in Step 3. The largest ingredient is sitting on a different item in Step 3 than it is in Step 1. "Select a cooking mode." So for these ingredients, I can select any cooking mode? I can broil it, I can bake it, I can cook it in whatever mode I want? For how long, though? Step 4...so the same ... knob I use to select the cooking mode is also what closes the oven door? Does that mean, in Step 2 when I'm setting the cooking mode, I'm also opening the oven door? Perhaps I am not the audience for this as I have a lot of questions, and there seems to be a series of assumptions on knowledge the audience for this already has.