Reference Cards

[Jim Grey <jwg -at- ACD4 -dot- ACD -dot- COM>]

Gentle people...

Once again, I need advice.

(Before I begin, I wish to apologize for not summarizing to the list about
my last query, that of the "Notes" column.  Deadline hell left me no time.
If you are interested, I have all replies on file.  Email me, and I'll send
them to you.  jwg -at- acd4 -dot- acd -dot- com -dot- )

I want to create a reference card for one of our products.  We've done
"quick reference" pages before, but always as an appendix, always as a
piece of paper bound into the manual.  We're learning that our users want a
sturdy, coffee-and-tear-resistant, smaller-than-8.5x11 card instead.  They
want it to contain all those pesky, irritating facts they normally need to
look up, such as keystrokes and expert commands.  If that's more information
than will fit on a, say, half-sheet-sized card, we can create a folding
card.

Today, we do all production in-house on a mammoth Xerox copier.  I worry
that card stock, especially slick stuff that resists water, won't run
smoothly through the machine, or copy well.  I know that our copier doesn't
particularly like stock smaller than 8.5x11, either.

Also, we don't need large quantities of any documentation we produce.  Our
applications end up being fairly custom per customer.  A customer can have
between one and three hundred users, but 30 users is common.

So I ask:  What do you think?  Have you done this before?  Can you share your
experience?  Can you give me suggestions?

I'll collect all responses and (this time, I promise) I'll summarize.

Thanks for all your help.

Peace,
jim grey
jwg -at- acd4 -dot- acd -dot- com