[Tex/LaTex] LaTeX template for a technical reference manual / user guide

templates

I'm looking to use LaTeX for my technical documentation needs (such as reference manuals, user guides, etc). Could I use your template to quickly get started in order to avoid being overwhelming by the LaTeX world… tons of packages and control sequences. At minimum, I will need a template for Table of Contents, figures, tables, Index, Glossary. Any other goodies would be welcome too.

Also, any good (and free) front-ends? I'm thinking of going with Lyx but not sure if there are any better alternatives.

Finally, has anyone got any experience with the DITA and LaTeX? If I understand it correctly, DITA is for building 'configurable documentation', one that you can sew together from individual, independently written pieces written in XML. If you those pieces were in LaTeX instead, I guess you could use the two together.

The technical documentation is for software, btw.

Best Answer

You may find the refman class a good starting point; it's designed to be an all-in-one package for technical reference manuals.

Having said that, I use memoir for my technical manuals. It's very customisable, and many people have published such customisations, for example, these chapter styles. The last manual I wrote used a slightly modified version of one of these chapter styles, along with a slightly tweaked page style to give larger margins for handwritten and margin notes.

The manual for memoir is widely regarded as a great document to read in its own right, having good information on typesetting in general, and defining useful terminology in a way that's easy to read.

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Template for Standard Operating Procedures

This isn't everything you're looking for, but it's a start, and hopefully will give you an idea of how easily document class customization can start out. Mind you, I'm not going to worry much about emulating bad habits from the Word document, but focus on simple semantic content and formatting.

Let's start with some minimal content from your PDF:

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\title{Personal Protective Clothing Level}
\date{7/24/08}
\author{Harper}
\begin{document}

\maketitle

\section{Procedures}

\subsection{Structure Fires}
\begin{enumerate}
\item All firefighters operating in the ``hot zone'' of a structure fire will be in
full turnouts to include coat, pants, helmet, hood, gloves and boots. When operating
in an IDLH atmosphere an SCBA shall be worn.

\item Engineers when operating close to the incident and exposed to products of
combustion shall also be in full PPE including SCBA. If outside the ``hot zone''
engineers will be allowed to modify their PPE accordingly. If the Engineer is
considered to be a part of the RIT team, then full PPE including an SCBA shall be
worn.
\end{enumerate}

\end{document}

Using the standard article class as given, you get page content that looks like

enter image description here

After writing a (relatively) simple document class based off article, the same content (with \documentclass[12pt]{sop} and \approved{Chief Harper} instead of \documentclass[12pt]{article}, you get page content that looks like

enter image description here

and

enter image description here

The file sop.cls that created this layout is:

\NeedsTeXFormat{LaTeX2e}
\ProvidesClass{sop}[2011/07/08 v0.2 Modified article class for standard operating procedures]
% https://stackoverflow.com/questions/581916/how-do-you-extend-article-document-class-in-latex

% Passes and class options to the underlying article class
\DeclareOption*{\PassOptionsToClass{\CurrentOption}{article}}
\ProcessOptions
\LoadClass{article}

% Redefine the page margins
\RequirePackage[left=1in,right=1in,top=1in,bottom=1in]{geometry}

% Modifications to the section titles
\RequirePackage{titlesec}
\renewcommand{\thesection}{\Roman{section}}
\titleformat{\section}{\normalfont\bfseries}
  {\makebox[3em][l]{\thesection{}.}}{0pt}{}
\titleformat{\subsection}{\normalfont\bfseries}
  {}{0pt}{}

% Modification of title block
\RequirePackage{titling}
\RequirePackage{multirow}
\newcommand{\approved}[1]{\newcommand{\theapproved}{#1}}
% Ref: http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/3988/titlesec-versus-titling-mangling-thetitle
\let\oldtitle\title
\renewcommand{\title}[1]{\oldtitle{#1}\newcommand{\mythetitle}{#1}}
\renewcommand{\maketitle}{%
\begin{tabular}{|c|p{2in}|l|l|} \hline
\multirow{3}{*}{logo} & \multicolumn{1}{p{2.5in}|}{\centering Mammoth Lakes Fire Protection District } & Date: \thedate & Number: \\ \cline{2-4}
& \multicolumn{1}{p{2.5in}|}{\centering Standard Operating Procedure } & \multicolumn{2}{p{2.5in}|}{Title: \mythetitle} \\ \cline{2-4}
& Approved By: \theapproved & \multicolumn{2}{l|}{Revision Date: \quad / \quad / \quad} \\ \hline
\end{tabular}
}

% For "Page N of M"
\RequirePackage{lastpage}
% For easier construction of page headers/footers
\RequirePackage{fancyhdr}
\fancypagestyle{plain}{ % for first page
\fancyhf{}
\fancyfoot[L]{\framebox{Author: \theauthor}\\ \jobname{}.tex} 
\fancyfoot[R]{\framebox{Page: \thepage{} of \pageref*{LastPage}}}
\renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{0pt}
\renewcommand{\footrulewidth}{0pt}
}

\pagestyle{fancy} % for other pages
\fancyhf{}
\fancyhead[R]{%
\begin{tabular}{|c|c|} \hline %
Revision Date: & Number: \\
\quad / \quad / \quad & \\ \hline
\end{tabular}%
}
\fancyfoot[L]{\framebox{Author: \theauthor}}
\fancyfoot[R]{\framebox{Page: \thepage{} of \pageref*{LastPage}}} % \pageref* if we use hyperref, \pageref otherwise
\renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{0pt}
\renewcommand{\footrulewidth}{0pt}

% For easier customization of itemized, enumerated, and other lists
\RequirePackage{enumitem}
% For hyperlinked cross-references
\RequirePackage{hyperref}
% Ensure first page is correct style
\thispagestyle{plain}
% That's all, folks!
\endinput

See this SO question for where I got started with this.

[Tex/LaTex] LaTeX Template for Graduate School Essays

Had a similar issue myself when looking for CV templates. I came across this site, which was quite helpful and the .tex files are easily modifiable as most of the examples at the bottom of the page are using the letter class.

http://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/help/faqs/latex/letters

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Template for Standard Operating Procedures

[Tex/LaTex] LaTeX Template for Graduate School Essays

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