A.J’s guide to instructions
Tool instructions today couldn’t be more confusing. I’m here to make everything a lot simpler.
Tool instructions today couldn’t be more confusing. I’m here to make everything a lot simpler.
For some reason, instruction manuals now feature lots of drawings and diagrams, but no text. The idea is that by using drawings only, users of any language can understand. Spoiler alert: No, they won’t.
The drawings are nice but have no context. Sure, the manual talks somewhere about what’s going on in those drawings, but sometimes several pages away. On page 10 it might say, “Plug in the saw. Fig 5.” Of course, Fig 5 is on page 7. What logic does that possibly make? As a result, normal users (like me) just try to figure out the drawings rather than search for relevant text that could be anywhere.
For example, I just got a new pole saw and the manual has dozens of wordless drawings. Here’s how I, a perfectly normal user, interpreted them:
Based on what I understood from those drawings, I should have no trouble at all pruning some trees behind my condo; no trouble at all. I can’t wait to get started. Right after I change out of these shorts.
A.J. Hamler is the former editor of Woodshop News and Woodcraft Magazine. He's currently a freelance woodworking writer/editor, which is another way of stating self-employed. When he's not writing or in the shop, he enjoys science fiction, gourmet cooking and Civil War reenacting, but not at the same time.
