User Manual Critique

User Manual Critique There are a multitude of online user manuals out there, and they are created to help individuals perform tasks, operate machinery and build items. These manuals have strengths and weaknesses when it comes to how they are written. I have found an online manual for the Toro MultiPro 1250 Turf Sprayer. The website address for this manual is: https://icontent.toro.com/smartmanuals/MultiPro_1250/Proc12891.htm. I used the following criteria to critique this manual, audience recognition, components of instructions, safety instructions, instructional steps and finally graphics and videos. The first criteria I used is audience recognition. This manual is written for landscape professionals who have some experience using this type of machinery in the past. The terminology that is used throughout the manual suggests that the user knows what the overall operation of the machine is for. This is a good idea because if the machine is not used properly it could have the potential to be dangerous, causing injury or even death. This is also a problem because if someone is not familiar with the machine and attempts to use it the manual could confuse them, and they may not assemble the machine correctly, and not follow all the safety warnings that are in the manual. This could also be a dangerous situation since the chemicals that are used in conjunction with the machine could be hazardous. The second criteria I chose is the components and instructions of the manual. The first page shows a general overview of the sprayer with pictures of specific parts of the machine. One problem with the main page is that it said that there was a search option but I never found that option in any part of the manual. The introduction page gives a brief overview of the manual and points out potential hazards associated with the machine and identifies signal words throughout the manual such as danger, warning, caution and important and their context in the manual.