Using the word "you" in an user manual
I am writing a user manual and I have come to a discussion with a colleague. He says I cannot use the word "you" anywhere in the manual. Now I remember something about this at school but that was not for writing procedures. Also, doing some googling I observed that most tutorials where using it a lot. I would prefer using it but only if this is considered good practice. what do you think?
Answer
The alternatives that I know of are:
- 'You' (second person singular) - "You should put the plate on the table."
- Imperative - "Put the plate on the table."
- 'We' (first person plural) - "We should put the plate on the table."
- 'The user' (third person singular) - "The user should put the plate on the table."
- Passive - "The plate should be put on the table."
My own preferences are:
- I prefer the imperative as the default mode, because it's the briefest (least verbiage).
- I avoid the passive, and the first person plural.
- I use the second person pronoun ("you") or a third person noun (e.g. "your system administrator") when I want an explicit subject instead of the imperative.