TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
--- bogucki91030 -at- yahoo -dot- com wrote:
> We are considering putting our documentation online.
>
[SNIP]
>
> Would any of you mind sharing your ideas on how to
> structure it, some common pitfalls, etc.
>
> I don't know if we should do just FAQ's or the whole
> doc. Also, how is it done? In HTML? XML? PDF's (excuse
> my ignorance!)
>
> Do customers have some kind of password access to it?
> etc.
There are so many unknowns in what you're doing that it is hard to know
what would be best for you. Do you just want to make your existing
files available electronically? If so, creating a page of links to the
source document that requesters could download might meet your needs.
It's also a minimal amount of work.
But if you're anticipating people reading/using your documentation from
the screen, then you might want to look at reformatting it into HTML.
You can also do PDF's, of course, which is another quick and dirty way
of doing it, but you still have documents that were formatted for an
8.5 x 11 display (or larger) being displayed on a computer monitor that
will either make the full page difficult, if not impossible, to read or
require the user to use scroll bars and buttons to see information that
is 'off the screen', either right or below.
We use a tool that converts documents into HTML and offer users a
choice: either read the HTML pages or download a zip executable that is
a copy of the document in native format. And we have a rolling project
to review and reformat documents so that they are more easily
screen-readable. But that was our solution to our problems and might
not be what you're looking for.
And since we don't allow access from outside the firewall, we don't
have to worry about password protection of the documentation.
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
>From homework help to love advice, Yahoo! Experts has your answer. http://experts.yahoo.com/
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Learn how to develop HTML-based Help with Macromedia Dreamweaver!
Dec. 7-8, 2000, Orlando, FL -- $100 discount for STC members. http://www.weisner.com/training/dreamweaver_help.htm or 800-646-9989.
Sponsored by SOLUTIONS, Conferences and Seminars for Communicators
Publications Management Clinic, TECH*COMM 2001 Conference, and more http://www.SolutionsEvents.com or 800-448-4230
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
