Create A Getting-Started Guide, Add More Examples, Update Index.

[cadcoke5]

Getting-Started Guide;  You have a complex program to learn how to use. An in-depth getting started guide, that takes the user through the various options and commands in an orderly way.  I don't think you need to do basic programming introductions, but remember that users may not be programming professionals.  While you might omit some less used features, it might be good to describe the omissions in a sentence or two each, so that the user can be aware of what is possible, and then look it up in the command reference.

 

Examples;  This is perhaps going to be done to some extent if you create a getting-started guide. It might be good to add hyper-linking to/from the stuff in the getting-started guide and the command reference manual. The stuff you don't cover in the getting-started guide may warrant the additional examples.

 

Index; While you do have most of the important words in the index already, I have come across several important words that should be in the index, but are not. An example is the word "Boolean" or "Not". Sometimes these words or phrases are difficult to find using the search tool, because they may be on many pages.  All commands and functions should certainly be included in the index. Perhaps you should check that you include everything in your table of contents which can be described in one word.  You would have discovered that Boolean was omitted by using that method.

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Of the above, I think the Getting-Started Guide is the most important.  Some of the content can be directly copied from your existing manual, but I am sure it will take a lot of work to add new content.  Ideally this is not done by someone who has been at your company for years. If you were to bring on a new staff member at some point, ask them to take notes about their learning experience, so that they know what was confusing to them, and therefore know what is important to write about in a getting started guide.

 

-Joe