A Critique of Asus Crosshair Formula IV User Manual
A Critique of Asus Crosshair Formula IV User Manual
English 221
A Critique of Asus Crosshair Formula IV User Manual
The Asus Corporation is the number one manufacturer of motherboard in the world with almost 40% of the market share. They are a leader in innovation at both ends of the price spectrum providing extreme cutting edge technology for overclocking and high performance gaming systems and value oriented motherboard for less demanding applications. The Crosshair IV motherboard provides support for the newest AMD processors and allows for a great deal of customization and overclocking. A motherboard designed for extreme operation has to have an effective and comprehensive manual that can be usable across an audience ranging from new builders to experienced customizers trying to squeeze out the ultimate in performance. Effective presentation and layout of parts, instructions and information are essential to a quality user manual.
The first indication of the quality of the manual is the front matter of the manual. The details at the beginning are often overlooked but can make or break an effective manual. (Dobrin, Keller & Weisser, 2010, pp. 569-571) The Manual for the Asus Crosshair Formula IV has a simple cover but it conveys the necessary information. The table of contents is broken down into chapters and subchapters in an effective manner. The reader can quickly find a topic and navigate to the correct location in the manual. There is a section immediately after the contents that gives a brief scope, a short description of each chapter and provides a source for additional information. A key to symbols and typefaces is also included to eliminate confusion about conventions. A table with all the specifications concludes the front matter. The table is clear and well laid out with essential information for configuring additional items into the motherboard.
Asus chose to include the parts list and introduction to the product in the body rather than in the front matter. The parts list includes picture and descriptions and is very effective for a user that is unfamiliar with computer parts. (AsusTek Computer Inc., 2010, pp. 1-1) A listing of the features concludes the initial chapter. The authors use a variety of headings and graphics in this section to highlight the features of the product and are supposed to correlate to buttons on the product and icons, but the graphic is too small to have enough definition to be clear.
Progressing into the actual body the issue with small graphics continues. Several sections have graphics of the board repeated identifying on board LED’s. It would be more effective to use one larger graphic and