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Suggestion: Repair guides need wider angle photos

I've completed several repair guides provided by iFixit. They have all been very accurate and descriptive, which is great!

I do have a suggestion though. The guides need larger photos (wider angle, not more pixels) to make locating small components easier within a unit. For example, take this image from the optical drive replacement guide on a 20" iMac:

http://s1.guide-images.ifixit.com/igi/tD...

Thats a great image once you have located the component, but there is nothing to tell you that this component is located on the left side of the unit and can be somewhat obscured by the LCD depending on your viewing angle. Trying to locate the part from an image that is zoomed in very close can be frustrating for users who have never been inside of their unit before.

My idea was to have a single image of the entire unit with its cover removed with arrows/circles indicating where to locate certain parts. This would be extremely helpful, especially for anyone who hasn't been inside a unit before.

Answer this question I have this problem too

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The iMac guides especially have a "zoomed-in" problem, and we also feel that some of them should be revised to better identify components inside.

So there's three plausible options I can see, some harder than others to implement:

  1. We can provide the "single image of the entire unit with its cover removed with arrows/circles indicating where to locate certain parts," as you mentioned, and put it on the first step of a guide
  2. We can revise the text to better identify the location of the component the step is talking about
  3. We can re-take zoomed out pictures to add to the guides

Option #2 is probably the fastest and simplest solution, since our guide creators can just go in and add location information for obscure components just by looking at the guides. Do you feel that would mitigate the problem?

For the image you linked to, for example, we can amend the step like this:

  • Remove the two 5.3 mm T6 Torx screws securing the data display cable to the logic board. The data cable is located to the right side of the iMac, to the right of the AirPort card and above the audio board.

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"For the image you linked to, for example, we can amend the step like this:

  • Remove the two 5.3 mm T6 Torx screws securing the data display cable to the logic board. The data cable is located to the right side of the iMac, to the right of the AirPort card and above the audio board."

Ummm.... if you already know where the AirPort card and the audio board are. :D

A better example might be :

  • Remove the two 5.3 mm T6 Torx screws securing the data display cable to the logic board. The data cable is located to the right side of the bottom edge of the LCD.

But that only gets you so far. For example, earlier in the same guide, you have to disconnect the LCD temp probe. How do you describe where that is? "Trace the one bundle of wires through the other bundle of wires and disconnect it from the mainboard. Its right there with the plugs for the other four bundles of wire." A picture is worth a thousand words, ya know? :)

With most of the guides I have done, even picture of a fully assembled unit with markings pointing to a general area where certain steps take place would be helpful. Remember, the goal is to simply provide a general location for the component. The already provided pictures in the guides will help ID the component once you know about where it is.

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I like the idea of providing a general schematic of how a device is constructed. I would love to get an exploded diagram of every device— even though they're intimidating, they're incredibly information-dense. We don't have the time in-house to create these, but anyone who wants to make something like this is welcome to put it up.

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I think this is a great idea!

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Steve Brown will be eternally grateful.