No one reads manuals. Maybe there are some who read manuals; however, most of us try out different ways to know something before actually using a manual.
Since a lot of new technologies have similar interface, we experience very little learning curve. We are less scared to try out things on our own. We’ve become aware that there is a very small chance that we’ll break the computer if we did something wrong. The result is there is even lesser number of people who will read the manual. Does it mean we will lose our jobs as technical writers? I don’t think so. Nowadays, manuals are no longer limited to the booklets that we receive with our products. A great example is the video game industry. Most video games incorporate their manuals into the actual game. Instead of having a thick book of manual showing gamers how to use all their characters’ powers, they usually get a training level at the start of the game, where they can learn all of these.
Since most of the users are becoming more interactive, as technical communicators we need to find out more ways to make them more involved in their learning.
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