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.
Subject:Re: Content of Help Systems From:Bill Swallow <techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Tue, 20 Sep 2005 21:03:22 -0400
Do what best suits your company and your customers. We recently
discovered that our older customers (in age) prefer printed books over
PDF, and online Help over any other medium for procedural info. Our
younger customers (in age) preferred everything online, if not in the
help, then in PDF for conceptual and help for procedural. but those
are my customers. Yours may be different.
On 9/20/05, M Parcell <mbtechwriter -at- yahoo -dot- com> wrote:
>
> Hi there. I was hoping to get some feedback from you
> guys to help us make a decision at my company because
> we're debating what the content of a help system
> should be. We deliver both user guides (online only)
> and help systems. Some people maintain that these two
> mediums should have different kinds of information
> (e.g., the user guides should contain background and
> conceptual information as well as task-based
> information while help systems should contain
> primarily task-based information but little conceptual
> information). Others maintain that the help system
> should contain both background/conceptual information
> *and* task-based information. Our question is: Should
> help system content duplicate documentation content?
> Or, do these items serve distinctly different purposes
> that merit different content?
Now Shipping -- WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word! Easily create online
Help. And online anything else. Redesigned interface with a new
project-based workflow. Try it today! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l
Doc-To-Help 2005 converts RoboHelp files with one click. Author with Word or any HTML editor. Visit our site to see a conversion demo movie and learn more. http://www.componentone.com/TECHWRL/DocToHelp2005
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archiver -at- techwr-l -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Send administrative questions to lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
