User Manual format -- CS406, Fall 2001

User Manual Format

12/02/2001

CS406, Fall 2001

The User manual shall cover the setup and usage of your project. It should be consice, but complete. The topics it should cover are discussed in the following sections -- which will act as a format after which you should adapt your own User Manual.

Coversheet

Include the project name, team name, team-members, and, of course, the phrase "User Manual". You may add anything else you like, including a version number if you plan to make changes.

1 Installation and Setup

All details required to transfer the project from the distribution media (CD-ROM, floppy, Zip-file on the website) onto the target machine, to configure it, and be able to run it. You may choose whatever distribution media available to you, so long as you will be capable of demonstrating the installation from the CS175 lab.
In some cases, details of the installation cannot be known in advance, so variables should be used when describing the instructions. E.g.

	1) Choose the target directory for installation.  This directory
	   will be referred to as $INSTALLDIR.
	
	2) mkdir $INSTALLDIR
	3) mv OutProject.tar $INSTALLDIR
	4) cd $INSTALLDIR
	5) tar xvf OutProject.tar
	...

You should try to leave as much freedom as possible to the installer as to the selection of locations. Thus it is a bad idea to force them to use a fixed directory name, etc.

2 Completed Features

This is the "HOW TO" section of the User Manual. For each feature that your project implements, you should include a section on its typical usage. Each scenario that you include should have the following:

Description of the feature, and its purpose.
Pre-conditions necessary for the feature to be available/useful/meaningful. (if relevant)
Steps leading the user through the typical usage of the feature
Anything else needed to complete the description.

Not all features will fit this template, so stretch it where necessary. Groups with performance constraints should discuss the successful implementation of these as features. If you have implemented interesting ways of solving complex problems, the solutions may be presented as features of the project, the discussion focusing on the benefits that the new version gives over the old version.

3* Other concerns

This section should be omitted unless there are other concerns that you feel should be addressed in the context of a user. Remember that the target of this document is only a user of the system.

End.