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Jennifer Maitland reports: <<... it was assumed I would create a paper-based
user manual. I can see the value in having such a manual, but I've also
begun to see value in having a help system. The system does not currently
have a help system. My question is: when is one more appropriate than the
other?>>
Think of it (always!) from the user's perspective. To users, the promise of
an online help system is as follows:
- they can use it simultaneously with using the software; they don't have to
glance back and forth between a printed manual and the screen.
- online help can be context-sensitive; click the help button and they
instantly see the portion of the file related to the current task or dialog
box, rather than having to hunt through the manual to find this information.
If either description fits your situation for a given chunk of documentation
(a topic), then online help is arguably the better alternative. Print is
obviously better for other contexts, such as (obviously) troubleshooting a
dead computer that can't display the online help or for reading on the bus
en route to work. Where else would print better suit the needs of your
audience?
<<I realise the ideal would be to have both, but I don't have that luxury in
this situation.>>
You might indeed have that luxury; after all, you still have to create
exactly the same amount of information to describe the software. All you're
doing in creating both forms of documentation is deciding which medium works
best for each bit of information. Of course, I'm making the assumption that
your bosses will let you create information optimized for the medium in
which it will be used, and that's not always a good assumption. But if you
point out how much you'll reduce printing costs by including only
print-appropriate material in the printed manual, this might work fine.
--Geoff Hart, geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada
580 boul. St-Jean
Pointe-Claire, Que., H9R 3J9 Canada
Hofstadter's Law--"The time and effort required to complete a project are
always more than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's
Law."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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