Making Manuals Obsolete: Getting Information out of the Manual and into the Product    

Users loathe reading the operating manuals that accompany new equipment. Manuals often sit unused on a shelf, far from their targeted audience, while the costs of technical support soar. This article promotes integrating information traditionally found in printed manuals into the product itself and reports the experience of a design team in developing an easy-to-use product requiring minimal printed documentation. As part of design teams, technical communicators can advocate both reducing the amount of information required to operate a product and making the information immediately available when needed. These strategies can produce increased customer satisfaction and lower post-sales support costs.

Millar, Carol. Technical Communication Online (1998). Design>Documentation>User Interface

The Narrative User Interface  

Only a small percentage of users open Help, and they usually do that only when they have trouble with the application. One way to reach a broader audience is to integrate assistance into the user interface so that people understand the product as they use it. This paper describes our reasons for moving in this direction, provides examples of integrated user assistance, and discusses issues and concerns inherent in moving away from traditional Help.

Raiken, Nancy, Diane Stielstra and Richard Bloch. STC Proceedings (1998). Design>Documentation>User Interface>Help

New Life for Product Documentation

Here are some 'truths' we've all heard: 'Documentation is just a band-aid for poor design.' 'Real users don't read manuals.' 'Super users never read anything.' 'Help doesn't.' But are they really true? I've seen some signs of life in the use of documentation for digital products recently.

Quesenbery, Whitney. UXmatters (2006). Articles>Documentation>User Interface>User Centered Design