Guide to Making a Guide
Ever feel like you worked really hard on a guide and
no one appreciated it. Or maybe you are getting a whole bunch
of negative feedback? Well here is the solution!
Now this guide here will give you a
few major pointers on making your guide more successful!
Picking a Topic
Now this may be one of the more difficult parts about making a guide. Most of the time ideas for guides can't be thought of and brainstormed upon. Generally they just pop into your head. But in the case that you are looking for a topic you should use 2 resources. The first would be the forum you are making the guide for. What is a common issue and question that arises on the site? Does the question require a
simple answer or a longer more thought out insightful response? In any case you need to know the solution to your guide. You can normally find a solution by Googling the question. Through out guide making, Google will become your best friend. You will use it for almost every
question that pops into your head. Now if you can't seem to find a good idea on your Forum, why not Google? Like I said Google will be your best friend. Now I would like you to also keep in mind the originality of the guide. No one wants to read a boring guide that they have seen 835479 times before. The more original your topic the more views you will get.
Details/Clarification
Now this is the most important thing, details. You want your guide to be in dept. For example if you are at a stage in your guide where the user has to enter information and press a button don't say, "Press the button". There could be multiple buttons on the page. Instead say, press the "ok" button and move on. Don't leave anything for the reader to assume. Give him all of the bread and water right then. Something that also falls into this category is, make sure the details are relevant.
Don't go babbling off about your cousin in Kentucky that you went to visit in last summer because something in the guide reminded you of that.Stay on topic. Any little bump in the road can set your readers
off course. Make sure that if you are critiqued in the comments, you edit them in right away to prevent further confusion.
Layout/Structure
This section is short and simple. Keep the layout of your tut sweet, simple, and to the point. Don't have different fonts, colors, text sizes, or text effects. The only time you should use text effects is when you are emphasizing something. Keep the text plain and simple,
such as Tahoma. And make sure that the text color contrast with the background. Don't have bright vivid colors that are going to distract the reader. Black, white, and gray works just fine. Try to divide the text up into sections. Divide your guide up into sections and steps.
That way everything will look a little more organized.
As for the layout of the text, keep it aligned to the right. But in some cases, when the pictures don't flow with the guide, center it.
Screen Shots
Screen shots are very important. They actually serve two purposes, more appeal and clarification. Now say you want a user to click a button but it is hidden. Simply press Print Screen, the button, paste your photo into Paint and highlight/circle the button that the user needs to click. It is a easy and simple way to make your guide look 100 times better, and add more clarification.
Usefulness
How useful is your guide? Are people going to actually view it an respond? And is this a common task. Something that a lot of people could use? Don't waste your time making a guide
no one is going to like. It is just a waste of your time. And anything that saves people money, they love those guides.
Audience
Who will be reading your guide? What age are they? What similarities do they have. Are there certain things that they will all like/dislike? These are all things to take into consideration.
Resources
Always keep track of your resources because sometimes you may need to refer back to the. whether it is to update your guide, or answer a question someone has. It is great to keep resources
and know your topic.
~Spacky