English 421Y: Technical Writing Online

After looking at all of the instructions this is the list I came up with.

1. Router
2. Printer
3. Tent
4. Dryer
5. Microwave
6. Cable Modem
7. Chainsaw
8. Broadband
9. Dell
10. Waterpic
11. Primo PDF

Overall I thought that the Primo PDF was a horrible instructions manual. It was definitely missing the simple flow and interesting color pictures that the Router and Printer had. The large numbers in the Router and Printer directions created an instruction manual that was easy on the eyes. The other manuals seem to be missing important key points than the good ones. The Tent and Dryer manuals had very descriptive pictures that were easy to understand. The rest of the manuals had dull fonts and were not that well organized. I also thought that the tent instructions were better than I thought they were going to be.

Here's my ranking of the sample instructions:
1. Printer
2. Tent
3. PrimoPDF
4. Broadband
5. Router
6. Waterpic
7. Chainsaw
8. Dell
9. Microwave
10. Modem
11. Dryer

I thought the printer's instructions were by far the clearest in terms of both the design and the actual wording of the instructions. The graphics were very clear and helpful in these instructions as well. I think the Broadband instructions would've benefited greatly from some graphics or screenshots that show where all the buttons and options they wanted me to choose actually were on the screen. Also, the troubleshooting fixes could've had more detail to them like the original instructions. For example, if someone didn't know how to disable their firewall, telling them to do that to fix the problem isn't going to fix the problem at all! Personally, I didn't even think the dryer document seemed like instructions; it was more of a list of things I should look over in case I ever decided to do something differently, but it would never help me actually set up or use my dryer.

My ranking of the instructions are as follows:

1. Tent
2. Waterpic
3. Broadband
4. Cable Modem
5. Printer
6. Router
7. Chainsaw
8. Dell
9. Dryer
10. Microwave
11. Primo PDF

While I did think that the Tent instructions were the best in many ways, I didn’t agree with the layout design of the instructions. The company should have just had a top-to-bottom reading design instead of the columns they chose. While the broadband and cable modem don’t have the picture and diagrams that the other have, they still have a good overall layout, with a clear process expressing hierarchies of value. I thought the printer instructions use of illustrations was very effective and easy to understand. However, I think that the company should have used a top-to-bottom design for the instructions similar to those of the tent. The main reason I think that the bottom rankings missed the mark is that their design wasn’t invisible, as described in the readings. As soon as I looked at them, I could come up with a better way of presenting the instructions than the company had chosen.

1. Router
2. Printer
3. Tent
4. Broadband
5. Cable Modem
6. Microwave
7. Chainsaw
8. Waterpic
9. Dell
10. Dryer
11. Primo PDF

The router was an easy step-by step instruction manual that included snapshots to support the major points in the text. I found it to be the most effective set of instruction out of the group. However, the printer instruction had a great layout, with an easy to follow instructions that were clear and to the point. The mid sections of my rankings were all missing one key element or another. Some issues were dealing with boring layouts, missing information or lack of support. The waterpic manual was very detail but it wasn’t fluid with the terms of “jet tip.” The instruction had bold “tip” when it really wasn’t necessary. By far, the Primo PDF instruction was worst in all cases. The font was the same, no bold underlining, lack of graphics to help understand, and doesn’t really flow.

TANoNati Design Rankings:
1. Printer
2. Tent
3. Dryer
4. Water Pik
5. Cable Modem
6. Router
7. Primo PDF
8. Microwave
9. Broadband
10. Chainsaw
11. Dell Batteries

The designs I liked tended to hit on one or more common themes. They generally used stimulating color and contrast schemes and other visual features, had familiar and consistent formatting that progressed clearly from step to step, and contained illustrations for added context. The printer instructions tying these elements together for a pretty solid instructions set. In particular, the contrast between white and blue used to block out the steps revealed the document's structure better than any of the others, and the step-by-step illustrations were easier to process than some of the cover-all illustrations. The instructions towards the bottom tended to struggle with structure and mechanics. The chainsaw instructions had a complex, hard-to-follow layout. The a plain block format of the broadband instructions was unappealing to the eye, and the Primo PDF manual wasted a ctachy visual package and OK structure by burying the actual instructions under pages of legal block text.

Here’s how I ranked the sample instructions:
1. PrimoPDF
2. Router
3. Tent
4. Printer
5. Chainsaw
6. Waterpic
7. Broadband
8. Microwave
9. Dell
10. Modem
11. Dryer

Personally I thought that the PrimoPDF instructions flowed the best and were the most clear step-by-step instructions. I think these were the main factors in my ranking. If a document didn’t have a natural step-by-step setup flow then it hurt its rank. Toward the end the graphics became too small and/or cluttered. Also I think the dryer instructions are a good example of someone using the idiot approach, and as Kristin said they don’t even look like instructions.

Rankings:
1. Router
2. Tent
3. Primo PDF
4. Chainsaw
5. Printer
6. Waterpic
7. Cable Modem
8. Broadband
9. Microwave
10. Dell
11. Dryer

I thought that the router had the best instructions. It showed color pictures for every step including overall pictures and screen captures of the steps on a computer. I also thought the tent instructions were very clear and also showed pictures for each step. After getting through the first couple licensing pages the PDF instructions were very well put together and used repetition and alignment well to give it a nice flow and professional appearance. The chainsaw instructions have some alignment issues, but give good step by step instructions as well as good illustrations. The printer instructions made good use of nice, clear, colored illustrations with captions. The waterpic instructions do well in terms of good illustrations and step by step instructions but appear to be very cluttered and overwhelming at first. The cable modem shows a good picture in the beginning, but uses a lot of space in the last couple pages by using pictures when they could have said click next or click “______”. The broadband instructions seem to have print that is hard to read and doesn’t make use of illustrations. The last three just seem to be poorly laid out and do not appeal to the reader.

1. Router
2. Printer
3. Primo PDF
4. Dryer
5. Tent
6. Waterpic
7. Broadband
8. Cable Modem
9. Chainsaw
10. Microwave
11. Dell

I felt as though the Router instructions were the most effective. Although the first page includes a lot of text, the images are detailed, clearly labeled, and within good proximity to the instruction steps. The second page includes setup wizard instruction steps, all aligned with each other and connected to the relevant screen shots via lines and circles. The tent instructions were fairly clear, but they reminded me of Example 2 from Instructor Blog 4. The tent jumps from being on the ground (Figure 1 B) to being almost fully assembled (Figure 2). I’m sure it doesn’t spring up into that position perfectly. The chainsaw instructions were terrible because almost every step was included in one illustration, making it difficult for the reader to follow. The microwave instructions included far too much text, deterring the audience from getting reading very far. The Dell battery instructions, however, were the worst by far. Nearly every page uses a different alignment scheme, along with distinct “L” shape of blank space. The figure on page 45 is extremely ambiguous. It doesn’t even include a figure number, a description, or the direction to slide the battery and latch.

1. Printer
2. Router
3. Tent
4. Primo PDF
5. Cable Modem
6. Dryer
7. Microwave
8. Waterpic
9. Broadband
10. Chainsaw
11. Dell

I really thought that the printer and router instructions were the easiest to follow, and also the easiest on the eye. They were very aesthetically pleasing and well configured. The information displayed was easy to follow and the experience seemed almost somewhat enjoyable. I really felt like installing that printer for like 10 seconds there. On the other hand, I found the Dell Battery instructions to be the worst, as they were extrememly difficult to follow and not fun to look at either. There were very few pictures to guide the user, which made things even more difficult. I thought the chainsaw instructions were also quite difficult, but at least thats an admittably difficult process.

1. Tent
2. Router
3. Printer
4. Microwave
5. Cable Modem
6. Dryer
7. Waterpic
8. Broadband
9. Primo PDF
10. Chainsaw
11. Dell Battery

I chose the tent because it was simple and easy to follow. They did not try to make it overly complicated like using a chainsaw. Just insert the poles with matching pictures and set it up. I did not think the dell battery was the best one because of how simple it was to change a battery. I noticed a lot of warnings that seemed like common sense but in America, I guess companies have to protect themselves from lawsuits.

My Rankings:
1. Printer
2. PrimoPDF
3. Tent
4. Router
5. Cable_modem
6. Dell
7. Microwave
8. Chainsaw
9. Broadband
10. Dryer
11. Waterpic

I found the printer instructions to very nicely separated by section and they were easily identifiable as to what section was handling what part of the install. The PrimoPDF instruction set also did a decent job with utilizing organization of its material and the screenshots used were for the most part relative to the processes at hand. The graphics used in the Dryer manual were unprofessional and weren’t very detailed. I found myself straining to figure out what the graphics were trying to display. The Waterpic instructions had great graphics, but because they were so horribly ordered, it was impossible to tell in what order the directions should be read.

Thanks!

JFlitt

1. Printer
2. Dryer
3. Microwave
4. Router
5. Tent
6. Waterpic
7. Chain Saw
8. Cable Modem
9. Primo PDF
10. Dell
11. Broadband

The main thing that I looked for in these instructions was an appealing look, usefulness of information, and ease of use. The printer instructions were laid out very well and were easy to follow without making the reader feel stupid. I liked the dryer instructions because they were very personable. They may not have used a great deal of important information, but it got across the important info using repetition and a friendly character. The router instructions were very easy to follow except for the first step which was a bit wordy. I really liked the presentation of the tent instructions until I reached the second to last step, which I did not understand. The waterpic instructions were easy to use, but real pictures would have been better than drawings. The chain saw instructions were useful, but the black and white design was kind of a turn off. The cable modem instructions were also hurt by the use of strict black and white, and more images throughout the body of the instructions would have helped break up the large blocks of text. The Primo PDF instructions were hard to follow. The Dell instructions were not appealing to the eye in any way, the black and white made me instantly not want to read them. The instructions for broadband were also hurt by the lack of color and visuals. Overall, I think the best instructions used a lot of color and images to break up large bodies of text. This made them more readable and easier to follow.

1. Router – The router instructions provided a screenshot for every step of the process. This often works well to guide the reader and leaves little room to get lost. Also, screenshots offer easy to find reference points that reduce the amount of time one spends looking for answers. For these reasons, I feel these instructions are the most effective. However, the individual textual steps are a bit lengthy. D-Link should strive to keep each step as concise as possible so as to prevent readers from getting confused.
2. Printer – The printer instructions were illustration-driven which are usually the easiest to scan for reference. They also included textual documentation to support the images.
3. Cable Modem – The cable modem instructions were clear and precise, and included useful reference figures.
4. Primo PDF – The Primo PDF instructions offered a clean and easy to read layout with useful screenshots. The formatting emphasized the correct actions to take to prevent readers from getting off track. However, after reviewing the steps, I anticipate these instructions are insufficient, leaving steps unaccounted for.
5. Microwave – The microwave instructions included ample graphics that cover thoroughly all functions of the oven and promote quick reference.
6. Tent – Overall, the tent instructions were fairly straightforward but the provided images were rather unclear.
7. Dell – The Dell instructions possessed an effective layout with headings that stand out and direct attention.
8. Broadband – The broadband instructions were clear and precise, but lacked any graphics that are often important for technical instructions.
9. Waterpic –The waterpic instructions included too much information for a multicolumn format. I think the design should be reconsidered to promote readability.
10. Chainsaw – The chainsaw instructions were cluttered; too much was going on in the reference figure. However, these instructions do include ample warnings to prevent the readers from getting injured in trying to use the chainsaw, which “Instructor Blog #4” suggests are important to include.
11. Dryer – The dryer instructions used a cartoon design, which was covered in The Thompson Handbook but I don’t feel it was effective. They are not very clear and do not direct attention to the information a reader desires.

Overall, I think most of these instructions were decent to good, though none were perfect. For the most part, they accounted for the intended audience and did well not to demean the readers’ intelligence. The most common problem I seen was in regard to appeal, or rather the lack of, usually due to clutter.

After reading all of the instructions, these are my rankings:

1. Printer
2. Router
3. Tent
4. Dryer
5. Microwave
6. Cable modem
7. Dell
8. Chainsaw
9. Waterpic
10. Insight Broadband
11. Primo PDF

The printer, router, and tent instructions were by far a step above the rest of them. The way that all three of these instructions were set up made them easy to follow and overall easy to use. These three instructions were all great examples of instructions that went step by step, had good pictures, had good details of each step, and there was no confusion about what to do. The Primo PDF instructions were horrible, they were boring and they had no pictures or descriptions that would help many people. They were definitely written for experienced users. The insight broadband instructions were also not up to par, they had no pictures and too many small words.

1-Router
2-Printer
3-Microwave
4-PrimoPDF
5-Dryer
6-Chainsaw
7-Tent
8-Water Pik
9-Dell
10-Insight
11-Modem

I thought the router and printer were the best instructions overall. The used nice images and simple text to describe the setup process. I’m confident that anyone who bought those products could successfully install them. I liked the dryer instructions because of the cartoon. The instructions were simple and to the point, all while using a talking dryer. I’ve noticed that a lot of posts express disgust for the PrimoPDF instructions. I think they work just fine. They are simple and to the point, even including a screen shots. The program is extremely simple, the instructions don’t need to be very detailed. I do, however, agree that all the legal stuff should be after the instructions, its rather annoying. The rest of the instructions all seemed to be run of the mill boring instructions, especially the cable modem and insight. Why do cable companies always have bad instructions?

My Rankings:
1. Printer
2. Dryer
3. PrimoPDF
4. Router
5. Tent
6. Microwave
7. Chainsaw
8. Cable Modem
9. Waterpic
10. Broadband
11. Dell

After looking over these, I think that use of visuals played a key part in my decisions. I liked how the printer’s instructions provided quick, clear and concise instructions that were supplemented by the visuals. I felt that the dryer’s visuals would aid in putting customers who were reluctant to use instructions at ease. Dell was put at the bottom because their image only seemed to make things more confusing. I’m not sure if it’s just my computer but why does the picture have giant rectangles missing out of it? Dell should have ensured that they were putting an image that resembled what the customer would be seeing.

1. Printer
2. Tent
3. Dryer
4. Waterpic
5. Primo PDF
6. Router
7. Cable Modem
8. Microwave
9. Broadband
10. Chainsaw
11. Dell Batteries

The Printer, Tent, Dryer, Waterpic, and PrimoPDF all met several criteria I was looking for in good instruction sets. The Printer used very effective graphics that were actually in-laid with each step by using a background color that matched each step. This helped me as the user understand what to look for when performing each step. The tent also used effective graphics to show how to build the tent. I think the best instructions here effectively combined the graphics with the textual steps, and the worst instructions had no graphics, or very confusing steps/graphics.

1. Printer
2. Router
3. Dell
4. Primo
5. Microwave
6. Tent
7. Dryer
8. Chainsaw
9. Waterpic
10. Cable Modem
11. Broadband
I picked the printer as first because it was very simple. It had a nice design layout. Everything just flowed together and it was very simple to see what was going on with the pictures and the text. My differences between top and bottom came with design and ease of use. The router was very well done and easy to follow with simple graphics with areas pointed out with large circles. The cable modem on the other hand had text and then groups of pictures at the bottom. This approach seemed more like the lets make instructions then add pictures. It didn’t seem to flow near as well as it could have like the ease of use of the router instructions.

1. Router
2. Printer
3. Modem
4. Broadband
5. Tent
6. Microwave
7. Waterpic
8. Dell
9. Chainsaw
10. Primo
11. Dryer

I liked the router and printer instructions because they were clear and to the point. I thought that their use of graphics was very helpful. It’s always better to see what you are dealing with rather than have to guess. However I really did not like the dryer instructions. I really hated that stupid cartoon dryer. I just thought it was really distracting.

1- Router
2- Tent
3- Printer
4- PrimoPDF
5- Broadband
6- Modem
7- Chainsaw
8- Waterpic
9- Dell
10- Dryer
11-Microwave

I found myself looking mostly at layout, flow of instructions and visuals. The top ranked instructions provided a good use of visuals and were easy to follow. They showed some contrast and use of white space. They were not too busy, which helped me keep my interest in them. I did not like the dryer instructions because i was being pulled away by the enormous border and it wasn't very professional. The beginning of the microwave manual is very heavy, although it does a good job of enlarging and bolding important words. Some of the instructions weren't exactly appealing, however they were effective and fairly easy to read. The waterpic used a lot of visuals to aid in setup, however the writing is a bit long and heavy.

1) Dryer - I thought the cartoonish images were great for grabbing attention-which is what I think is a rather important aspect of instructions; I'm not going to read it if it is boring. I'm disappointed that so many people ranked this so low.
2) Tent - I think images are the way to go, they make everything quite easy to read and these seemed to illustrate the directions well.
3) Cable Modem - The white space around the numbered steps was rather effective.
4) Microwave - No images here, but the use of the chart to organize the information worked well for me.
5) Printer - I like the use of non-text/image space to organize the document, but the images of the printers were all of the same viewpoint and seemed to meld together.
6) Chainsaw - Not too bad, but there seemed to be too much going on in too little space. The graphic was way too busy.
7) Router - Same deal with the chainsaw, this was actually a tie for me.
Waterpic - Images were rather bad, can't tell what is happening in a few of them. Way too much text.
9) Broadband - I suppose this isn't too bad, it has a good sequential pattern to follow with not much text in each number. The big block of text at the top and the lack of images made me not want to read it though.
10) PromoPDF - This fails because it is so long. I think this would benefit from having two sets of instructions, one for a simple use and one for all of the additional features.
11) Dell - I lawled at this one. The use of white space is atrocious, horrible graphic, and the whole thing looks like some sort of warning sticker (albeit long) that is attached to something and is overlooked/thrown away.

1. Printer
2. Router
3. Tent
4. Chainsaw
5. Microwave
6. Modem
7. Dryer
8. WaterPic
9. PrimoPDF
10. Broadband
11. Dell

What really set the top 5 apart from the rest of the group was the effective use of pictures. They all also used what I felt was a good ratio of words to pictures. The instructions did a great job using pictures or photos of the actual product to explain how to do things. The chainsaw had detailed pictures but could have broken them up more instead of showing 3-4 parts in one pictures and then saying see Figure 3.

Dell had by far the worst instructions. While they were probably the least complicated, I felt that they assumed too much of the readers. The words were not very descriptive and the one picture that was in the instructions was never referenced in the instructions. The waterpic instructions had no flow. They just crammed everything on as few pages as possible. They could really improve their directions by a) using color but also just spreading things out and making the pictures bigger.

Rankings:
1) Tent
2)Printer
3)Primo Pdf
4)Broadband
5)Chainsaw
6)Router
7) Dryer
8)Modem
10)Dell
11) Waterpic
As I was looking at the topics I had a natural tendency to relate to the topic making it easier for me to understand what was being instructed. Also like the tent, printer, and others; the instructions with diagrams and concise phrases were more appealing to me. Also while skimming through I tried to estimate the amount of time it would take me to perform the task. Some instructions took longer to read then perform. Why I listed the dell and waterpic last. With the Dell I felt that the instructions were scattered and weren't organized. It needed a table of contents or something. The waterpic was not optimizing the white space. It seemed to wordy and non appealing to me and loosing my interest; just by following the diagrams, I understood it quicker and better than trying to read it.

1. Router
2. Printer
3. Cable Modem
4. Tent
5. Broadband
6. Microwave
7. Dryer
8. Waterpic
9. Chainsaw
10. Dell
11. Primo PDF

The router instructions really provided a simple iterative step-by step set of instructions. The instructions also provided adequate graphics to aid the reader in connecting things from the text to the application of the content. I really felt like these instructions were the most adequate in addressing the audience appropriately. The printer was also very well written, I just felt the router instructions were more intuitive. Some of the lesser well written documents weren't laid out very well and didn't really take the audience into account. The Primo document was horrid. It didn’t really have very many adequate design considerations and just didn’t flow very naturely.

1. Router
2. Printer
3. Chainsaw
4. Microwave
5. Tent
6. Dell
7. Primo PDF
8. Waterpic
9. Broadband
10. Cable Modem
11. Dryer

The first thing I notice in the instructions is the pictures. Colorful pictures really help, especially when determining a certain color is needed for the instructions. Next, the amount of words are important. Instructions with blocks of words and not enough of white space were ranked towards the bottom, such as the modem and broadband. The dryer was last just because it looked cheesy and not professional. The chainsaw was ranked closely behind the colorful and helpfully pictured router and printer because of the difficulty of the task. A chainsaw could become troublesome, and the pictures along with the instructions were straightforward.

1. Dryer
2. Printer
3. Router
4. Primo PDF
5. Chainsaw
6. Microwave
7. Cable Modem
8. Broadband
9. Tent
10. Dell Batteries
11. Waterpic

I chose the dryer as number one because I think that it does what it was made to do very effectively. It may not be terribly complicated or provide a great deal of insight, but it is effective. I ranked the printer and router near to top because they had a very easy to follow layout as opposed to the tent. The text and pictures worked well together and it didn’t make my eyes jog on the screen a lot. This is also the same reason I ranked the tent near the end. I thought the instructions and pictures were perfect, but the layout was horrible. I realized that I had started on step two when I started to scroll to the second page. Most of the instructions ranked toward the middle were there not because they were bad, but because they really didn’t have much to offer. I would imagine a lot of people wouldn’t read them because they look mundane and not important. I placed the Waterpic dead last due to the fact that it seemed like they tried to stuff a full novel into their manual. There were so many columns, pictures, and small text it made my head hurt.

1. Router
2. Printer
3. Dryer
4. Cable Modem
5. Waterpic
6. Primo PDF
7. Broadband
8. Chainsaw
9. Cable Modem
10. Microwave
11. Dell Battery

Initially, you can see that the router directions took advantage of the pages containing the instructions and its overall presentation is pleasing to the reader. The format it chose for the text is well prepared. And it is appropriately aided by the necessary graphics. Looking deeper, the content of the text is well informative and does not miss anything. It also reads well which is very important to the customers. The pictures that are provided offer helpful angles and point out specific areas that are relevant to the text where it is important. The instructions also offer several helpful screenshots of step by step instructions for computer setup that appear simple.

Dell on the other hand provided a very dull and dry instruction manual. At first appearance, the directions look unattractive to the reader. It leaves a large amount of white on the pages and offers very little applicable pictures. And of the pictures provided, the quality is very poor. I feel like these series of directions from Dell are from 15 years ago.

Once I looked at the instructions I came up with this list.

1. Router
2. Printer
3. Tent
4. Chainsaw
5. Dryer
6. Water Pic
7. Broadband
8. Cable Modem
9. Microwave
10. Dell
11. PrimoPDF

All in all I thought the printer and router instructions were the best and easiest to read and understand. They used good graphics that were clearly labeled and easy to understand and go from one step to the next. Also it seemed to me the shorter the instructions, the more i was able to focus on them. If they went to long they started to lose my attention. Also the broadband and cable modem had fairly clear step by step instructions, but almost no graphics to go along with the instructions. That is why they were so low on the list.