Most digital publications for long-form content duplicate the physical experience of consuming information: books. However, there is a significant difference between consuming a novel or essay and consuming a guide:

Novels & Essays	Manuals and Guides
Novels and essays are created using a sequential format, and consumed in a linear manner. The reader starts at the beginning and continues consuming to the end.	Manuals, guides, and reference documents are created in sections using a non-sequential format, and consumed in a non-linear manner. The table of contents and appendix are extremely important to the experience as readers often "flip" back and forth.

The guides format is optimized for creating content in a non-sequential manner but still enabling a flexible and logical way to group content. And it is optimized for the user to consume content in a non-linear manner by providing persistent navigation and prominent search (similar to an "appendix").

Furthermore, the guides format is optimized for digital creation and consumption. The Guides editor is similar to Google Docs, Microsoft Word, and popular web content editors (like Wordpress), but eschews a paper-size canvas (8.5 x 11) used by other popular editors like Google Docs and Microsoft Word, and instead is optimized for digital devices (of all sizes). This format makes it easy to break-up content into smaller "chunks" with a drag and drop functionality to reorganize content.

For creators, there is no complicated editor interface, just a toggle switch between "edit mode" and "live mode". Guides are built using html5 so that content can include not only text and images, but also multimedia videos, audio clips, embeddable maps, 3d drawings, and other media types.

For the content consumer, this format enables them to quickly find the information they need in the best format available and to consume it on any digital device without the need for endless scrolling, pinching and zooming, or ultimately printing a complete document just to find specific information.

The data we have collected from over 9 million guides viewed validates our hypothesis on how people consume this type of information:

Not only is it easier to consume, but is also presented in an elegant design that presents information professionally and consistently for consumers in a secure format that can only be edited by creators and administrators.

The guides format also contains many interactive features that create feedback loops for creators by allowing consumers to make comments "in-context" using the commenting function, or clicking on the "thumbs up" and "thumbs down" to provide instant feedback. Along with detailed usage statistics, this feedback enables creators to continually improve and measure the effectiveness of their documents.

Unlike static files that are downloaded by users, guides are "live documents" that can be updated in real-time, so users always have confidence that what they are consuming is the latest version. To ensure users are kept up-to-date, creators have the option to send notifications when substantial information has changed by simply clicking on a button that sends a message to users with a link to the specific page or section.

Sharing Guides

The guide format is wrapped in an html container that enables it to act like a standalone document similar to a file. This makes it easy to share guides on various social media platforms while managing access control and collecting real-time usage information.

Guides can also be easily embedded and integrated into websites (similar to Youtube). Unlike PDFs, guides are formatted as html which search engines are able to read and index, increasing website SEO and content visibility. Furthermore, not only can guides be published on the creator's website, others can embed guides on their website, increasing potential distribution and SEO, while still maintaining control over the content (when updated, it's updated for everyone), and real-time access control and visibility on who is using the content.

Format Comparison

As you can see in the chart below, the guides document format is the most full-featured for creating and consuming single publications on any device. Note that by far the most popular format for distributing "guides" (long-form content) is PDFs.

* Not natively, but certain tools may include this functionality or can be implemented with additional investment.