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.
RE: Hyperlinks in PDF -- should they be visible or not?
Subject:RE: Hyperlinks in PDF -- should they be visible or not? From:"Richard L Hamilton" <dick -at- rlhamilton -dot- net> To:<techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Wed, 20 Jan 2010 12:01:13 -0700
The DocBook stylesheets take another approach that I think is worth
considering:
1) Where there is a link, print the URL, either in parentheses after the
reference or in a footnote. The URL is hot.
2) Other links are made hot by convention. For example, all page
numbers, in the TOC, index, or inline (e.g., see xyz on page Z). Also,
bibliographic links ("Chicken Soup for Technical Writers"[Soup09]).
This gives you a single pdf that works in print or online.
I'll defer to accessibility experts on whether that satisfies the need
to have links be clear. I tend to think it does, since you know when you
will get a link, and you know you won't get a link that doesn't meet the
conventions. But you do need to know the conventions:).
Richard Hamilton
---------------------------------
XML Press
XML for Technical Communicators http://xmlpress.net
(970) 231-3624
> -----Original Message-----
> From: techwr-l-bounces+dick=rlhamilton -dot- net -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+dick=rlhamilton -dot- net -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- co
> m] On Behalf Of voxwoman
> Sent: Tuesday, January 19, 2010 6:09 AM
> To: Viv Crawford
> Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: Re: Hyperlinks in PDF -- should they be visible or not?
>
>
> In an electronic document, hyperlinks should be visible - and
> in companies
> that cared about accessability that I used to work for, there
> had to be 2
> degrees of difference (i.e. color plus underline) between
> non-hyperlinked
> text and hyperlinked text. Reading an electronic document is
> not supposed to
> be a game where the reader has to mouse over the entire page
> to find hot
> links.
>
> If you are really concerned about the documents looking "right" when
> printed, the company should supply hardcopy. Other than that,
> you have no
> control over what the docs are going to look like, since
> you're not printing
> them. You can always recommend that when they print the PDF
> the user can
> select "Print colors as black" - but there is no guarantee
> that they will do
> this.
>
> -Wendy
>
> On Tue, Jan 19, 2010 at 6:44 AM, Viv Crawford
> <viv_crawford -at- hotmail -dot- com>wrote:
>
> >
> > 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 dick -at- rlhamilton -dot- net -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/dick%40rlha
milton.net
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.
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-
