Every GNOME application or applet should have a manual specific to that particular application. This manual should be a complete and authoritative guide. The manual should describe what the program does and how to use it. Manuals will typically describe each window or panel presented to the user using screenshots (in PNG format only) when appropriate. They should also describe each feature and preference option available.
Applications and applets should not rely on documentation which is only available on the internet. All manuals and other documentation should be packaged with the application or applet and be made available to the user through the standard GNOME help system methods described below.
Application manuals should be based on the template in the section called “Template 1: Application Manual”. Applet manuals should be based on the templates in the section called “Template 2: Applet Manual For GNOME 1.x” for GNOME versions 1.x and the templates in the section called “Template 2: Applet Manual For GNOME 2.x” for GNOME versions 2.x.
Manuals for very large applications, such as GNOME Workshop components should be a <book> (and thus use <chapter> for each primary section) , instead of <article> which most applications use(with each primary section being a <sect1>).
Note that applet manuals in GNOME 2.0 are treated in a special way. The manuals for all applets are merged into a single virtual document by Nautilus. For this reason, the header information for applet manuals is omitted and the first section of each applet is <sect1>. Applet manuals will typically have several sections, each of which is <sect2>.
Application manuals should be made available by having a "Manual" entry in the Help pull-down menu at the top of the application, as described in the section called “Listing Documents in the Help Menu”. Applets should make their manuals available by right-clicking on the applet.