iFixit’s Douzuki Promises Manuals That Don’t Suck

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As Apple users, we have it pretty good. When you actually manage to get your hands on an Apple repair manual, they’re easy to understand, well written and have excellent diagrams. Sure, they can be tricky to find, but when you do, they’re great. Other companies? Not so much.

That’s why the incredible people from iFixit are releasing href="http://www.dozuki.com/">Douzuki, a new distribution model for repair manuals. In beta as we speak with a final release planned this Fall, and will come in two flavors:

Guidebook is a modern procedural documentation platform. Guidebook makes it easy for anyone to create how-to instructions or publish service documentation for complex devices. Every manual is available online, as downloadable PDFs, through dedicated mobile apps like iFixit’s iOS app-or through custom API applications. It’s simple for technicians to suggest changes, so manuals consistently get better over time.

Answers is enterprise-grade Q&A for experts. Answers is a structured tool for focusing expert conversations into a useful (and searchable) knowledge base. Answers gives companies the ability to make their products a hub for knowledge exchange.

Hopefully this will mean more dynamic repair guides for the things you have at home. If you’ve ever struggled to find the instructions for taking out the base of your dishwasher, an easily accessible and assuredly up-to-date digital document sounds perfect.

[via href="http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/18/ifixit-intros-dozuki-promises-service-manuals-that-don-t-suck/">Engadget]