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Yes a Picture speaks more than thousand words. A striking graphic helps you capture your Readers' attention and cement your message in their memories. A chart or graph helps clarify complex topics better than words can say. Even in text-heavy documents, graphic elements like pull quotes and drop caps help lure readers into your words.

Well Readers get bored with reading of abt 400 pages of manual, with all white and black. How abt having a picture in between the document? It reduces the boredom of work. With the change in technology and approach to technical writing, the use of graphics has become more popular. Use of demos, slides shows, multimedia presentation, and interactive Audio and Video files in the documentation has made users to understand the product even better and quicker. For instances a small kid given a story book with lot of pictures in it, understands the story. It not only understands the story book but also Njoy more. This is what the ultimate goal of Technical Writers, to make users to get understand about the product/application/service. The readers should not only read, but also be benefited with it. Creating a user guide of 400 pages of the product may be less effective on the readers, it can be made even better and easy, crisp and neat to the users by creating a demo to operate the product, which shows how the product is to be used or installed or configured.

Sometimes we wonder who is going to read the whole 400 pages of document. Just put yourself in the ultimate reader place and experience the feel; s it is bugging!!!
For example:
Look at the following:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg7hbnnq_4fn5h8sdh[/img][/url].

The above picture shows that wearing belt is compulsory while driving and driver should not be interrupted with talks, so that the Accidents can be reduced by as much as possible when the belt is properly installed.
The impact of the video or graphics is more than the words itself. Coming to the cost factor, obviously the cost will be more as the technologies to be used. And in the meanwhile the manpower included is also more and the timeline also extends due to the introduction of the new ideas. 1 picture can give an idea of the whole page what is written. It is also an impressive way to catch the minds of the readers reading the guide. U can bring back the readers again and again, because of the impress created on the readers on the first splash.
Preliminary points to be kept in mind with use of graphics in the document:

• Size of the document.
  • Output of the document (whether it is printed or electronically displayed)
    • The cost
      • The manpower (graphic designer)
        • The timeline

          When it comes to practicability of the use of the pictures or graphics in documentation, there are several things to be taken into account. Some of them are the right use of the picture, the color scheme, the effects used in it, the cultural difference when the document is used in overseas. Because the colors have major impact on the feelings of the readers. The review part is also time consuming. A small change in the picture or in the design of the graphics consumes comparatively lots of time. The time to load the graphics is also time consuming. Generally a document loads very late if it has lot of pictures in it. Updating it is also a tedious job. Publication is also expensive when compared.

          But still it depends on the various factors as mentioned above to incorporate the use of graphics or pictures in your documentation.
          But still what over the years our seniors have come across is: “A Good Document is always a combination of right picture and right content for it”.
          Anyway choice is ur’s