diff --git a/docs/Makefile.am b/docs/Makefile.am
index fbe0b50847..3081622048 100644
--- a/docs/Makefile.am
+++ b/docs/Makefile.am
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-SUBDIRS = manual
+SUBDIRS = manual fwg
 
 if HAVE_GTK_DOC
   SUBDIRS += gst libs 
@@ -6,4 +6,4 @@ endif
 
 DIST_SUBDIRS = gst manual libs
 
-EXTRA_DIST = random slides
+EXTRA_DIST = random slides manuals.mak
diff --git a/docs/fwg/Makefile.am b/docs/fwg/Makefile.am
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..eaedbefef7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/fwg/Makefile.am
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+manualname = gst-filter-writers-guide
+htmlname = index.html
+
+sgml_files = gst-filter-writers-guide.sgml
+
+fig_files = 
+eps_files = 
+png_files = 
+
+EXTRA_DIST = $(sgml_files) $(fig_files)
+
+include $(srcdir)/../manuals.mak
+
diff --git a/docs/fwg/gst-filter-writers-guide.sgml b/docs/fwg/gst-filter-writers-guide.sgml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..aa418e3544
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/fwg/gst-filter-writers-guide.sgml
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+<!DOCTYPE book PUBLIC "-//GNOME//DTD DocBook PNG Variant V1.0//EN" "" [ 
+<!ENTITY INTRO SYSTEM "intro.sgml">
+<!ENTITY CHAINVSLOOP SYSTEM "chainvsloop.sgml">
+]>
+
+<book id="index">
+  <bookinfo>
+    
+    <authorgroup>
+      <author>
+	<firstname>Richard</firstname>
+	<surname>Boulton</surname>
+	<authorblurb>
+	  <para>
+	    <email>richard-gst@tartarus.org</email>
+	  </para>
+	</authorblurb>
+      </author>
+    </authorgroup>
+
+    <legalnotice>
+      <para>
+	This material may be distributed only subject to the terms and
+        conditions set forth in the Open Publication License, v1.0 or later (the
+        latest version is presently available at <ulink url="
+        http://www.opencontent.org/openpub/"
+        type="http">http://www.opencontent.org/openpub/</ulink> )
+      </para>
+    </legalnotice>
+
+    <title><application>GStreamer</application> Filter Writer's Guide</title>
+
+  </bookinfo>
+      
+<!-- ############# Overview - part ############### -->
+
+  <part id="overview"><title>Overview</title>
+    <partintro>
+      <para> 
+	This book describes how to extend the capabilities of
+	<application>GStreamer</application> by creating a new filter.  The
+	reader should be familiar with the basic workings of
+	<application>GStreamer</application>.  For a gentle introduction to
+	GStreamer, you may wish to read the <emphasis>FIXME</emphasis> Since
+	<application>GStreamer</application> adheres to the GTK+ programming
+	model, the reader is also assumed to understand the basics of GTK+.
+      </para>
+    </partintro>
+
+<!-- ############ Introduction - chapter ############# -->
+      &INTRO;
+  </part>
+
+<!-- ############ Basic concepts - part ############# -->
+
+  <part id="basic-concepts"><title>Basic concepts</title>
+    <partintro>
+      <para> 
+        We will first describe the concepts it is neccessary to understand
+	before building a filter.
+      </para>
+    </partintro>
+
+<!-- ############ Basic concepts - chapter ############# -->
+      &CHAINVSLOOP;
+  </part>
+
+<!-- ############ Building A Filter - part ############# -->
+</book>
diff --git a/docs/manual/Makefile.am b/docs/manual/Makefile.am
index b8a17f27f6..c8348e856c 100644
--- a/docs/manual/Makefile.am
+++ b/docs/manual/Makefile.am
@@ -65,90 +65,5 @@ png_files =  images/bin-element.png \
 
 EXTRA_DIST = $(sgml_files) $(fig_files)
 
-PDFFILES=$(manualname).pdf
-PSFILES=$(manualname).ps
-
-$(manualname)/$(htmlname): $(sgml_files) $(png_files)
-	db2html $(manualname).sgml
-
-$(manualname).pdf: $(manualname).ps
-	ps2pdf $< $@
-
-$(manualname).ps: $(sgml_files) $(eps_files)
-	db2ps $(manualname).sgml
-
-images :
-	mkdir images
-
-images/%.png : %.fig images
-	fig2dev -L png -s 16 $< $@
-
-images/%.eps : %.fig images
-	fig2dev -L eps -s 16 -m 0.5 $< $@
-
-$(manualname)/images:
-	ln -s ../images $(manualname)/images
-
-htmldocs: $(manualname)/$(htmlname) $(manualname)/images
-htmldist: htmldocs
-	@if [ -r $(manualname)/$(htmlname) ] ; then \
-	    echo "Adding $(manualname)/$(htmlname) to distribution" ; \
-	    $(mkinstalldirs) $(distdir)/$(manualname) ; \
-	    cp -a $(manualname)/*.html $(distdir)/$(manualname)/ ; \
-	else \
-	    echo "Skipping $(manualname)/$(htmlname) from distribution: can't build" ; \
-	fi
-
-pdfdocs: $(PDFFILES)
-pdfdist: pdfdocs
-	@for a in $(PDFFILES) ; do \
-	if [ -r $$a ] ; then \
-	    echo "Adding $$a to distribution" ; \
-	    cp -a $$a $(distdir)/ ; \
-	else \
-	    echo "Skipping $$a from distribution: can't build" ; \
-	fi \
-	done
-
-psdocs: $(PSFILES)
-psdist: psdocs
-	@for a in $(PSFILES) ; do \
-	if [ -r $$a ] ; then \
-	    echo "Adding $$a to distribution" ; \
-	    cp -a $$a $(distdir)/ ; \
-	else \
-	    echo "Skipping $$a from distribution: can't build" ; \
-	fi \
-	done
-
-# Data to install, in the usual automake way
-docdatadir   = $(datadir)/gstreamer
-docdata_DATA = $(PDFFILES) $(PSFILES)
-pngdatadir   = $(datadir)/gstreamer/gstreamer-manual/images
-pngdata_DATA = $(png_files)
-
-htmlinst:
-	@if [ -r $(manualname)/$(htmlname) ] ; then \
-	echo "Installing $(manualname)/*.html" ; \
-	    $(mkinstalldirs) $(DESTDIR)$(docdatadir)/$(manualname) ; \
-	    $(INSTALL_DATA) $(manualname)/*.html $(DESTDIR)$(docdatadir)/$(manualname) ; \
-	else \
-	    if [ -r $(srcdir)/$(manualname)/$(htmlname) ] ; then \
-	        echo "Installing $(srcdir)/$(manualname)/*.html" ; \
-	        $(mkinstalldirs) $(DESTDIR)$(docdatadir)/$(manualname) ; \
-	        $(INSTALL_DATA) $(srcdir)/$(manualname)/*.html $(DESTDIR)$(docdatadir)/$(manualname) ; \
-	    else \
-	        echo "NOT installing HTML documentation: not present, and can't generate" ; \
-	    fi \
-	fi
-
-htmluninst:
-	$(RM) -rf $(DESTDIR)$(docdatadir)/$(manualname)
-
-all-local: htmldocs pdfdocs psdocs
-clean-local:
-	$(RM) -rf $(manualname)/ images/*.eps images/*.png *.eps *.png *.ps *.pdf *.aux *.dvi *.log *.tex
-dist-hook: htmldist pdfdist psdist
-install-data-local: htmlinst
-uninstall-local: htmluninst
+include $(srcdir)/../manuals.mak
 
diff --git a/docs/manuals.mak b/docs/manuals.mak
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..05a371c16a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/manuals.mak
@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+# Included by directories containing manuals.
+# Expects the following to be defined:
+# manualname
+# htmlname
+# sgml_files
+# fig_files
+# eps_files
+# png_files
+
+PDFFILES=$(manualname).pdf
+PSFILES=$(manualname).ps
+
+$(manualname)/$(htmlname): $(sgml_files) $(png_files)
+	db2html $(manualname).sgml
+
+$(manualname).pdf: $(manualname).ps
+	ps2pdf $< $@
+
+$(manualname).ps: $(sgml_files) $(eps_files)
+	db2ps $(manualname).sgml
+
+images :
+	mkdir images
+
+images/%.png : %.fig images
+	fig2dev -L png -s 16 $< $@
+
+images/%.eps : %.fig images
+	fig2dev -L eps -s 16 -m 0.5 $< $@
+
+$(manualname)/images:
+	@ln -sf ../images $(manualname)/images
+
+htmldocs: $(manualname)/$(htmlname) $(manualname)/images
+htmldist: htmldocs
+	@if [ -r $(manualname)/$(htmlname) ] ; then \
+	    echo "Adding $(manualname)/$(htmlname) to distribution" ; \
+	    $(mkinstalldirs) $(distdir)/$(manualname) ; \
+	    cp -a $(manualname)/*.html $(distdir)/$(manualname)/ ; \
+	else \
+	    echo "Skipping $(manualname)/$(htmlname) from distribution: can't build" ; \
+	fi
+
+pdfdocs: $(PDFFILES)
+pdfdist: pdfdocs
+	@for a in $(PDFFILES) ; do \
+	if [ -r $$a ] ; then \
+	    echo "Adding $$a to distribution" ; \
+	    cp -a $$a $(distdir)/ ; \
+	else \
+	    echo "Skipping $$a from distribution: can't build" ; \
+	fi \
+	done
+
+psdocs: $(PSFILES)
+psdist: psdocs
+	@for a in $(PSFILES) ; do \
+	if [ -r $$a ] ; then \
+	    echo "Adding $$a to distribution" ; \
+	    cp -a $$a $(distdir)/ ; \
+	else \
+	    echo "Skipping $$a from distribution: can't build" ; \
+	fi \
+	done
+
+# Data to install, in the usual automake way
+docdatadir   = $(datadir)/gstreamer
+docdata_DATA = $(PDFFILES) $(PSFILES)
+pngdatadir   = $(datadir)/gstreamer/gstreamer-manual/images
+pngdata_DATA = $(png_files)
+
+htmlinst:
+	@if [ -r $(manualname)/$(htmlname) ] ; then \
+	echo "Installing $(manualname)/*.html" ; \
+	    $(mkinstalldirs) $(DESTDIR)$(docdatadir)/$(manualname) ; \
+	    $(INSTALL_DATA) $(manualname)/*.html $(DESTDIR)$(docdatadir)/$(manualname) ; \
+	else \
+	    if [ -r $(srcdir)/$(manualname)/$(htmlname) ] ; then \
+	        echo "Installing $(srcdir)/$(manualname)/*.html" ; \
+	        $(mkinstalldirs) $(DESTDIR)$(docdatadir)/$(manualname) ; \
+	        $(INSTALL_DATA) $(srcdir)/$(manualname)/*.html $(DESTDIR)$(docdatadir)/$(manualname) ; \
+	    else \
+	        echo "NOT installing HTML documentation: not present, and can't generate" ; \
+	    fi \
+	fi
+
+htmluninst:
+	$(RM) -rf $(DESTDIR)$(docdatadir)/$(manualname)
+
+all-local: htmldocs pdfdocs psdocs
+clean-local:
+	$(RM) -rf $(manualname)/ $(manualname).junk/ images/*.eps images/*.png *.eps *.png *.ps *.pdf *.aux *.dvi *.log *.tex DBTOHTML_OUTPUT_DIR*
+dist-hook: htmldist pdfdist psdist
+install-data-local: htmlinst
+uninstall-local: htmluninst
+