RE: Hyperlinks in PDF -- should they be visible or not?

["Al Geist" <al -dot- geist -at- geistassociates -dot- com>]

Why have hyperlinks if you can't see them, especially if you manuals are
distributed electronically? 

Al Geist
Technical Communicator, Help, Web Design, Video, Photography
Office/Msg: 802-872-9190
Cell: 802-578-3964
E-mail: al -dot- geist -at- geistassociates -dot- com
Website: www.geistassociates.com
See Also:
Fine Art Photography
Website: www.geistarts.com
 
"...I walked to work, quit my job, and kept walking. Better to be a pilgrim
without a destination, I figured, than to cross the wrong threshold each
day." (Sy Safransky)

-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+al -dot- geist=geistassociates -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+al -dot- geist=geistassociates -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf Of Viv Crawford
Sent: Tuesday, January 19, 2010 6:45 AM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Hyperlinks in PDF -- should they be visible or not?


Hello

For each product release we create an online help and a bunch of pdf
manuals. These are always referred to as print manuals, but in fact are
distributed electronically. 

 

At the minute, all the hyperlinks and cross references in them are in plain
black text so as to look 'right' if printed. The reader's only clue to the
presence of a hyperlink would be the pdf 'hand' icon if they happened to
hover (and the context of course). 

 

I'm inclined to think that it's more useful to have a visible hyperlink as
users are more likely to read the manuals on screen -- and if they are
reading a hard-copy version, they've printed it themselves, so in theory
shouldn't mind that there are visible hyperlinks. 

 

Should I change them to be visible? How do others handle this? 

TIA

Viv
 		 	   		  

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Are you looking for one documentation tool that does it all? Author, 
build, test, and publish your Help files with just one easy-to-use tool.
Try the latest Doc-To-Help 2009 v3 risk-free for 30-days at:
http://www.doctohelp.com/ 

Explore CAREER options and paths related to Technical Writing,
learn to create SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS documents, and
get tips on FUNCTIONAL SPECIFICATION best practices. Free at:
http://www.ModernAnalyst.com

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40web.techwr-l.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info. 

Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat