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(Some companies also recognize overview as a separate kind, see below.)

Both can contain sections on the overall design to avoid repetition but will describe it from different standpoints.

(Some companies also recognize overview as a separate kind, see below.)

man pages are a classic example of reference documentation. Some man page authors (e.g. rsync) tried to add user's guide sections -- and by doing that made it harder to find the necessary reference sections.

man pages are a classic example of reference documentation. Some man page authors (e.g. rsync) tried to add user's guide sections -- and by doing that made it harder to locate the necessary reference material.

User's guide can also have overview text, but the focus of the overview here is the usage patterns: what is supposed to be called after what, from what places etc.

• Some companies, e.g. Microsoft, segregate the highest-level overview into a separate kind of documentation. In many place in MSDN, you would see a section on X divided into: "About X", "Using X" and "X reference".

User's guide can also have overview text, but the focus of the overview here is the usage patterns: what is supposed to be called after what, from what places etc.

• note the word supposed. This is a recommendation: "This is the way that we intend to be the preferred one". What can (or cannot) be called from where outright is reference documentation domain.

Some companies, e.g. Microsoft, segregate the highest-level overview into a separate kind of documentation. In many place in MSDN, you would see a section on X divided into: "About X", "Using X" and "X reference".