image “When will publishers and consumers accept e-books on a wide scale?” is a question that many readers of this blog have probably entertained. Some powerful companies have already unabashedly embraced e-books. Perhaps you think I am referring to Amazon or Sony? But the relationships Jeff Bezos and Howard Stringer have with e-books are mere dalliances compared to the liaisons of some other e-book swains. I am referring to companies that love e-books so passionately that they have made them mandatory.

If you have purchased a gadget in recent years such as an automobile navigator, or a cell phone then you probably know about these compulsory e-books commonly called “User Manuals”. I recently purchased a Garmin Vehicle GPS that came with a tiny paper booklet giving minimal instructions. The bulk of the documentation was contained on a computer disk in the form of a PDF file, i.e., Garmin supplied me with a manual in e-book form.

Several other recent purchases did not provide paper manuals. An LG Chocolate cell phone and a Lacie external hard drive were packaged with disks that contained e-book manuals in PDF format. When I bought Nero burner software online the documentation was available only as a download. Even the documentation for a Scooby Doo computer game consisted of a short e-book downloadable from a website.

It follows that the marketing analysis firms that are attempting to count the number of e-books in consumer hands are dramatically underestimating the figure because they are ignoring e-books packaged with other products. Millions of these compulsory e-books have been distributed to recipients who might not even be eager to accept electronic text. No doubt economic substitution is driving this trend. A sylphlike electronic file is considerably less expensive than a heavy chunk of dead-tree matter. Also, an electronic manual is easily revised and updated without the need to replace or pulp out-of-date paper manuals.

But does anyone read these electronic manuals? Yes, I think many do. When something goes wrong or when a user is exploring some atypical, tricky, or arcane feature then he or she has no choice. The e-book manual must be consulted. Unfortunately, the common PDF format is inflexible and inadequate. Here are some suggestions for manufacturers who include e-book manuals with gadgets and other objects:

1) E-book manuals should be readable on different size screens. Readability on small screens is important. Consider using a format with reflowable text. Consider using illustrations that can be displayed legibly on smaller screens when possible.

2) Since we still live in the age of eBabel, consider releasing your e-books in multiple formats.

3) Push for standards so that we can leave the age of eBabel behind us. For example, investigate using Epub as a format. Coordinate with other manufacturers so that a single class of e-book readers (with an open spec) can read all the different manuals.

4) Put manuals online. Consider making the manual interactive and updatable. Harness the experiences of the users of your product to update and improve the manual. Allow the web manual to be aggregated together and downloaded for offline use.

Of course, the request to include a complete paper manual might be the most common desire. Perhaps TeleReaders have some other suggestions?

Moderator: Image is CC-licensed, from chromalux via Flickr.

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