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I do not use PDFs for our online Help - I code HTML with Dreamweaver and distribute RoboHelp's WebHelp format.
I think if you are on a window and you click Help, the PDF should always open to the correct page, not to the TOC. If the PDF does open to the specific page, I personally think it's fine. You're actually giving the user the added advantage of being able to print specific pages while controlling the header, footer, and page number that prints on the printed page.
Paul Hanson
Technical Writer
Quintrex Data Systems http://www.quintrex.com
email: phanson at quintrex.com
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+phanson=quintrex -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+phanson=quintrex -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Nancy Allison
Sent: Wednesday, July 08, 2009 9:25 AM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: PDFs as online help?
Do any of you use PDFs for your online help?
Is it possible to link to topics within a PDF for context-sensitive help?
PDFs are attractive to me, for use as an online help system, because you can control the display of special characters in them. You can be sure what your end user will see.
Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices. http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/
Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/
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