Differences Between How-To and Tutorial Documentation - Open Documentation Hour

Explore the key differences between how-to guides and tutorials in this 51-minute Open Documentation Hour recording from the Technical Authors team at Canonical. Delve into the Diátaxis documentation framework, examining the similarities and distinctions between working and learning approaches. Learn when to use tutorials versus how-to guides, how to determine their effectiveness, and best practices for creating advanced-level tutorials. Discover insights on incorporating screenshots and maintaining a single source of truth in documentation. Gain valuable knowledge to improve your technical writing skills and create more effective educational content for users at various skill levels.

Intro
Updates
Presentation starts
How-to vs. a tutorial
Cooking example
Similarities between the two
Differences between working and learning
More confusion
Further reading
Diátaxis definitions
Questions
When do you need a tutorial?
How do you decide if you need one or the other?
How simple should a How-to be
Other options on how the two differ
Tutorials that glue the product together
Tutorials for teaching, How-tos for general use
How do you know if your tutorial is effective?
What'a a good advanced-level tutorial?
Should you use screenshots?
Where is the single source of truth?