For assistance in naming your 'How to' Guide, choosing the right Guide type, and writing your Guide summary, see Creating a Guide .

Before you create a new piece of content, search the website to see if it already exists and talk to other people who could be responsible for it. We do not want to duplicate content on the website as this can be confusing for users.

Writing your 'How to' Guide

When explaining a detailed process in which your user has to follow step-by-step instructions, it is important the structure and writing are clear and easy to follow.

Write directly to the user

Start each step with a verb where possible. This helps make your instructions clear and concise, and ensures you use an active voice, for example:

Log in to Agresso using your username and password. Select 'Enter and Expense Claim (Staff)' or 'Enter and Expense Claim (Student)'. Enter your information into the form.

Use the word 'select' rather than 'click' for accessibility purposes and for mobile devices users who will not be using a mouse.

Use numbered lists

Identify the logical order in which the user needs to carry out the steps to complete the task, then present this as a numbered list.

Label different stages with headings

If the overall process has different stages, divide them into multiple sections with subheadings. See our formatting guide for how to create headings.

Do not number your subheadings or you might end up with nested numbered lists. If a process is split across various stages restart the number sequence after each subheading.

Using visual media

Use visual media, such as images and videos, to support your written content, not as a substitute for it. Also remember you must include detailed and meaningful titles and alt text with your images and videos, and that all videos should have subtitles available.

Things to remember when writing your 'How to' Guide

Do:

write concise phrases ('Select the option', not 'You should select the option' or 'The student should select the option')

write in plain English to make your content as understandable as possible

structure your steps in the order the user will need to complete them

break content up into headed sections, using numbered lists to structure the content

make sure your headings follow the same principles as when writing the title

make it absolutely clear when an action is required by the user ('You must contact Student Services' rather than 'Contact Student Services', 'You must complete a form' rather than 'Complete a form')

Don't:

use visual media such as screenshots or videos without supplying the same information in written form for users with screenreaders

use icons (such as the Windows Explorer symbol) unless the context makes is clear for users with screenreaders what they have to select

use the greater than symbol > to direct the user to the next step

use generic headings ('Further information')

use needless headings ('Introduction' as users don’t want an introduction, they want the most important information)

structure your content as FAQs - you won’t need them if your content is concise, well-structured and written in sequential order

Resources to help you write your Guide

The University's style guide will help you make sure you're using the same terminology, style and tone as the rest of the website. This is important so that website users can understand us easily through the consistency of our content.

Our formatting guide will help you create appropriate headers, links, lists and other formatting for your page. This is important because it makes the information we provide clearer to website users.