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Subject:Re: Convert Paper Documentation to Web Format From:"Christensen, Kent" <lkchris -at- sandia -dot- gov> To:"'TECHWR-L'" <TECHWR-L -at- LISTS -dot- RAYCOMM -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 5 May 2000 09:20:42 -0600
re: How do you expect readers will use the material? If you expect they
will actually read and use the information on line, then it makes sense to
deliver the material in an on-line format (HTML or XML etc.). (Penny
Staples)
True, but likelihood of users wanting to read online material that is simply
copied over from a paper version is low in the first place. If the paper
stuff is "enhanced" for the web by insertion of hypertext links and revised
formatting for screen viewing, the likelihood will increase. It takes some
extra work to avoid the self-fulfilling prophecy thing.
I'd go on and add that the web is probably a more "visual" medium in other
ways, and I think that "documentation" that has lots of graphics will be
more successful. This may also be somthing required for successful
conversion to web presentation. As Jakob Nielsen
(http://www.useit.com/papers/webwriting/writing.html and http://www.useit.com/alertbox/) says, on the web your reader is just a click
away from being somewhere else. It's the hand we're dealt and we have to
play it rather than lament it.
A great new reference on this is in the current issue of Forbes magazine,
where (90-year-old) management guru Peter Drucker predicts continuing adult
education (on the web) "may well become our greatest growth industry." See http://www.forbes.com/forbesglobal/00/0515/0310092a.htm Should be good news
for tech writers.
