Abstract
Devices, machines, and systems are becoming more complex and sophisticated while at the same time they are being made available to more people. Unfortunately, the operation of these products — whatever their nature — is seldom self-evident. At best we turn to instructions simply to confirm our expectations and learn what is new. At worst we must depend on them to compensate for a lack of human engineering in the product. Most of the time, however, we need instructions to use all the functions and capabilities that have been provided to us at an acceptable cost. Information has to be part of the customer's package. In issue number one next year we will be looking at techniques for making printed information usable.