---
title: "Quick Reference Guides Right Where You Need Them"
date: 2009-04-09
description: "Quick reference guides 1.0 Quick Reference Guides: The Poetry of Technical Writing 1.1 Quick Reference..."
canonical_url: https://idratherbewriting.com/2009/04/09/quick-reference-guides-right-where-you-need-them/index.html
---

> For AI agents: a documentation index is available at https://idratherbewriting.com/llms.txt. Markdown versions of all pages are available by appending .md to any page URL.

# Quick Reference Guides Right Where You Need Them

1. [1.0 Quick Reference Guides: The Poetry of Technical Writing](https://idratherbewriting.com/2008/07/06/quick-reference-guides-the-poetry-of-technical-writing/)
2. [1.1 Quick Reference Guide Formats -- Tips for Finding Attractive Layouts](https://idratherbewriting.com/2008/12/31/quick-reference-guide-formats-tips-for-finding-attractive-layouts/)
3. [1.2 STC Presentation this Thursday: "Quick Reference Guides: Short and Sweet Technical Documentation"](https://idratherbewriting.com/2009/02/25/stc-presentation-this-thursday-quick-reference-guides-short-and-sweet-technical-documentation/)
4. 1.3 → Quick Reference Guides Right Where You Need Them
5. [1.4 Quick Reference Guides: Short and Sweet Documentation](https://idratherbewriting.com/2009/04/10/quick-reference-guides-short-and-sweet-documentation/)
6. [1.5 Documentation Usability: A Few Things I've Learned from Watching Users](https://idratherbewriting.com/2009/04/28/documentation-usability-a-few-things-ive-learned-from-watching-users/)
7. [1.6 Starting Points with Quick Reference Guides: Gathering Before Designing](https://idratherbewriting.com/2009/05/14/starting-points-gathering-before-designing/)
8. [1.7 Quick reference guide slides from the Transalpine Conference](https://idratherbewriting.com/2009/06/13/quick-reference-guide-presentation-transalpine/)
9. [1.8 Webinar Recording -- Organizing Help Content: Breaking Out of Topic-Based Hierarchies](https://idratherbewriting.com/2012/02/18/webinar-recording-organizing-help-content-breaking-out-of-topic-based-hierarchies/)
10. [1.9 Quick Reference Guide Gallery](https://idratherbewriting.com/2012/09/09/quick-reference-guide-gallery/)

Have you ever tried to adjust your office chair but couldn't remember how to do it? Do you ever look at all the little levers under your seat and wonder how they work with the myriad muscles in your back? Don't you wish you could just pull a quick reference guide ... out of the *arm of your chair?*

![Birds eye view of the quick reference guide](https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/idbwmedia.com/images/birdseyeview.png)

Here's a close-up:

![Birds eye view of the quick reference guide](https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/idbwmedia.com/images/qrgcloseup1.png)

*Close-up view of the quick reference guide*

Thanks to Louellen Coker of [Content Solutions](http://yourcontentsolutions.com/) for sending me these pictures. I believe this is her actual chair, which is from [Neutral Posture](http://www.igoergo.com/). It's a great example of integrating help directly in the user interface, making it part of the product rather than a separate entity.