iFixit Instruction Guide
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Quick Start Guide
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Instruction Writing
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Writing and Editing
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Photography
About This Project
iFixit is the world’s largest online repair community that posts free step-by-step repair guides and quality replacement parts for thousands of products. Their mission is to reduce landfills and create a more sustainable future. I created this guide as part of my Principles of Technical Communication class. But it felt good to be part of the mission to empower the consumer’s “right to fix.”
The Process
THE PROPOSAL: I followed iFixit proposal guidelines and submitted three repair projects. They accepted the first suggested repair guide in the list—“How to Replace a Broken Closet Door Ball Catch."
CREATE A PROFILE: I made a brag profile of my published non-fiction work and revived my old blogger username: @desisoccermom.
COMPLETE CHECKPOINTS: The process involved two checkpoints:
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Steps for the procedure, included time to fix and tools needed, which iFixit approved and gave me the go ahead to proceed to checkpoint two.
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Add photos for every step of the procedure with a “first-person-point-of-view.” The first batch of photos I submitted either did not show my hands or were highlighted incorrectly. iFixit sent these back with specific instructions on what they wanted to see in the photos. I had to enlist my husband and two stepladders to get a close up view of the top of the closet door and take photos of the process.
The Instruction Guide
PUBLISH THE GUIDE: Once iFixit was satisfied with the instructions and the photos, they published the guide. So far, the How to Replace a Closet Door Ball Catch has had 909 view on the iFixit site.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
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Writing a help guide is not as easy as it looks.
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Writing instructions in simple language is a skill.
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Instruction guides need to be universal and language should not be a barrier to fixing things.
