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The importance of reading the manual
I have a guilty secret. I enjoy reading manuals. There’s something exciting about all that potential and (hopefully) the enthusiasm about the product without any negativity.
Of course there are more practical reasons for reading manuals as this letter in the Times Online reveals
“Sir, As a young electronics graduate many years ago, I remember unpacking a new oscilloscope, the latest and best of its class. Several hours later, having only achieved mixed results, I decided to open the manual. The first page stated in large bold letters: “Now you’ve tried it your way, try it our way”.
Richard Coombs, Mere, Wilts “
For me the context that manuals offer is very important, as the letter demonstrate. Understanding the whole process behind a task is very important and not always properly explained on the internet. I don’t deny that most answers can be answered online, but it’s not always in the proper context.
Sadly, most manuals are supplied as PDFs these days, removing the ease of reading a paper document. This is made worse by the fact that I still have to find a good PDF reader for mobile devices. That is sometimes a problem with PDF as a format, but that’s another story.
Sadly though, there is rarely any humour in manuals. I suppose it’s not the right place but it can brighten up the learning process. I remember one in the LocoScript Word processor manual. Well one of them, this was back in the days when there were 5 manuals totalling about 6 inches supplied.
It was describing the ability to change the background and text colours. The manual conceded that it was possible to set both the text and background to black and then gave instructions of how to reset the changes “should you be perverse enough to try this”. Great days…
Have you got any other manual stories to share?
Since I'm not the techy type I usually read the manual first before operating a gadget or even using a certain software. It lessens the probability of me damaging it.
posted-by Joyce Porter | January 30, 2009 7:41 PM
I have been working in call centers for the last few years. One of the accounts I worked for was an isp that provided a self install kit. This was a dsl service in which part of the installation included installing filters for the phone lines in your home so that the phone calls do not interfere with the dsl signal coming in on those lines. It always amazed me how many people would call us first to find out what to do with those filters rather than opening up the manual and reading it. With the wait times being as long as 45 minutes on a weekend, it would have been faster to read the dozen or so pages in the manual. Go figure?
posted-by Michael | January 30, 2009 8:34 PM
It amazes me too the amount of people who post on help forums for simple bits of information that are in their manuals.
However, I have also come across such badly written and confusing manuals that it is no wonder some people don't want to trust the contents !
posted-by Anne r | February 1, 2009 2:29 AM
I generally go to the manual once I tried re inventing the wheel and something went wrong. I can't remember how many times I assembled furniture and had parts left out!!
I have also read some manuals that are completely useless.
Especially the manuals that come with something from China, they are hillarious since they are written in Engrish.
posted-by Paul | February 3, 2009 2:58 PM
Great post, very useful information on a timely topic.
With electronic gadgets getting more sophisticated everyday, it more important to bone up on how to properly use the gadget. Especially with the state of the world economy.
posted-by Cal | February 8, 2009 7:01 PM
If I buy a gadget, I usually read the manual while checking what I've brought. This lessen the time of mastering how to use the product.
posted-by Michafute | February 26, 2009 7:58 PM