Distinguish information types

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Users don’t read manuals and help texts for fun. They need specific information and want to get this information quickly:

Beginners need basic information and want to understand how the product works in general, but they don’t want to be bothered with any details for experts.

Users who are already working with the product want simple step-by-step instructions that help them get their job done as quickly as possible. They don’t want to be bothered with basic information for beginners. If they need details, they want to get just these details and not encounter a vast choice of information.

Advanced users don’t need step-by-step instructions anymore. They often just want to look up a specific parameter or setting.

Clearly distinguishing information types is your key to giving users just the information they need in a specific situation.

Make the used information types clearly distinguishable by using headings that are typical for each specific information type (see Find meaningful headings). As an option, in online help you can also use different icons in the table of contents, or you can use different colors or topic layouts.

There are three standard information types:

“Concept”

“Task”

“Reference”

In addition to these standard types, you can also define your own information types depending on your particular product and document.

 

Tip:
If it’s not obvious which information type to use, this usually indicates a structural problem. You’re probably trying to stuff information into one topic that should be split up. Consider splitting the topic into several topics and finding better topic titles.

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Standard information type “Concept”

“Concept” topics provide basic information and describe how things are related. They contain overviews, definitions, rules, and guidelines.

Even if most users mostly need step-by-step instructions (the “Task” information type), explaining the concepts is often equally important, especially with more complex products. Understanding the basic concepts:

lets users understand and optimize their workflow

encourages and helps users to explore the product on their own so that they can perform many tasks without needing to go to the documentation

helps users find solutions for tasks that aren’t described in the documentation

helps users to prevent problems

helps users to resolve problems

In addition, users who have understood the basic concepts can better remember all the information that’s provided in the topics of other information types.

The “Task” information type

“Task” topics describe how to accomplish a specific job, or how to achieve a specific goal.

They list a series of steps that users can follow to produce the intended outcome.

The “Reference” information type

“Reference” topics usually contain detailed factual material—often in the form of tables and diagrams.

The topics aren’t designed to be read completely but designed so that users can look up specific information selectively.

Custom information types

In addition to the standard information types, it sometimes makes sense to create some custom information types for specific information. In particular, you can often create specialized information types for different kinds of reference information.

Example: Imagine that you’re documenting a medical instrument that measures some particular blood parameter. You have two user groups who use the device: lab assistants and doctors. So you could design two types of reference information: “measurement reference,” which contains information on how to set up measurements, and “medical reference,” which contains information on how to interpret the measurements’ results. Doctors will need information of both information types, lab assistants will usually only need information of the type “measurement reference.”

If defining your own information types makes sense, don’t hesitate to do so. However, don’t create more types than necessary, and never create more types than your audience will be able to tell apart.

Mixing information types

Although the basic idea of information types is not to mix different classes of information, it can sometimes make sense to combine them in a controlled manner. There’s no problem with this as long as you do it purposefully and with the users’ needs in mind.

Example: Imagine that you’re creating a user manual for an innovative product. Your audience hasn’t used a product like this before. In this case, it could make sense to briefly describe the purpose of each procedure or to give some other background information before the steps. So you would have a mixture of the two information types “Task” and “Concept.”

Likewise, sometimes it makes sense to provide details on specific parameters right within a step-by-step instruction, in particular if setting the parameters is always required. This is a mixture of “Task” and “Reference” information types.


Layer information

Writing: Writing “Concept” topics

Writing: Writing “Task” topics

Writing: Writing “Reference” topics