How-to

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wikibooks has a How-tos bookshelf and also books on these subjects:

Individual general-knowledge how-tos are being moved from Wikipedia to Wikibooks, on the How-tos bookshelf. For solution-centered practical how-tos, there is the Wikihowto project (formerly Wikisolutions). For a list of how-tos related to Wikipedia itself, see Wikipedia:Help. There is also a category of Wikipedia articles containing how-to sections that need to be edited.

A how-to is an informal, often short, description of how to accomplish some specific task.

Although developed originally in the Linux community^{[citation needed]}, the term is now in widespread use. A how-to (or HOWTO) is generally meant to help non-experts, may leave out details that are only important to experts, and may also be greatly simplified from an overall discussion of the topic. See procedural knowledge for a discussion of what sort of knowledge is imparted, and how far it can be imparted, in how-tos.

Other types of instructional documentation include FAQs, manuals and guides.