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Subject:Re: online vs. paper From:Chuck Martin <techwriter -at- VNET -dot- IBM -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 22 Apr 1994 08:25:40 PDT
Despite our company's push--similar to many these days--to reduce printed
documentation (for a variety of reasons), I can't see it happening anytime
soon. Besides personal preference, I like best the way William Horton put
it in his book "Designing and Writing Online Documentation":
"Online documents...probably will not {replace paper documents}
until we have online documents as efficient as this one:
High-density, lap-top information display device. Nonvolatile
memory with zero power consumption. Able to display text and
graphics at 1250 dots per inch resolution in monochrome or up
to 32,000 colors on a 100 mega-pixel display. Features simple,
intuitive, direct-manipulation user-interface with both sequential
and random access mechanisms. Functional at temperatures from
-120 to +451 degrees F."
In other words: a book. (Anyone catch the significance of the second
temperature figure?)
I think the "ability" to print pages or sections of most Help is a
horrid replacement for a well-organized, well-indexed, bound book.
In addition to the abovementioned environmental impact, how often
will a 3-ring binder be handy for users? How often will the pages
scatter around desks and shelves, if not thrown away after being used.
How much will the same pages be printed more than once?
There's probably a psychological factor here too: imagine paying
hundreds or thousands of dollars for a computer program. Your package
arrives. Inside are a half dozen disks, a license agreement, and an
8-page installation and getting-started guide. Would you feel cheated?
Feel that you haven't gotten what you paid for? I think many users
would.
I think the key is to move certain elements online, elements such
as reference material and the stuff that often gets relegated to
appendixes. Other elements, such as user tasks, introductory material,
and orientational text, can be pruned and tightened to make existing
manuals more compact. One strategy: write for your Help first. Then
use the concise, well-written material as a basis for your book.
Chuck Martin
Information Developer, IBM
techwriter -at- vnet -dot- ibm -dot- com
techwriter -at- aol -dot- com
74170,2462 -at- compuserve -dot- com
