[IxDA Discuss] Question related to "IKEA-manual".

[Jim Drew]

>From: johan.dermaut at belgacom.be
>
>*	Do you recommend this type of manual or not?

Definitely maybe.

American audiences who are used to getting a manual with every item them buy, usually in eight different languages, have learned to scan quickly over the content to pick out the stuff they need.  We don't read the manuals; we toss out 95% of what's there.

IKEA-type manuals don't work if you scan like that.  They already have most of that 95% tossed out.  Result being that for the first few IKEA manuals encountered, there's a high level of frustration.  We want there to be stuff we can ignore, but there isn't.

(I liken it to the difference between reading poetry and reading novels: you have to take the time to read and process every word in a poem to "get" it.  You can't go merrily along at a page a minute, maybe missing words and even sentences here and there.  For heavily novel-oriented people -- like me -- reading most poetry borders on painful; we have to force ourselves into a different headspace.)

After you've put together a few pieces with these sorts of manuals, you sink into the groove and you're fine.

I would love to see a study on whether or not the manuals work better for people who regularly read comics (books, magazines, or strips; ref. McCloud).  I'm inclined to think that they don't (but may not be worse, either); the narrative flow doesn't work the same way and the combo of minimalism with extreme detail packing may cause a disconnect.  Might depend on the type of comics, of course.

-- Jim