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Subject:Re: On-line help applications From:Glenda Jeffrey <jeffrey -at- HKS -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 24 Aug 1995 21:13:42 GMT
On Aug 24, 4:51pm, Paul Cassidy wrote:
> Hey folks,
> I have been asked to place a 750 page document on-line for a company. The
> company will have 1000 people using the document on a regular basis. About
> half of the on-line document will change 4 times a year. The client will
> most likely do the on-line editing.
Is this document internal to the company? If so, then DynaText might not
be a bad solution.
If the document is external (e.g. distrubuted to the company's customers),
then DynaText might be pretty expensive. The problem is that EBT
(the makers of DynaText) charges on a per-book basis when you are distributing
a document this way; in that case, you are allowed to distribute the document
viewing software to your customers for free.
OTOH, if it's an internal document,
you'd pay for the viewers to read the document, not for the documents
themselves.
So it's probably cheaper, especially if the books change as often
as four times per year.
A lot depends on the quantity of books and the quantity of viewers -- I'd
suggest talking with their salespeople to get the exact scoop.
> The on-line document needs:
> to be searchable
> to have hyperlinks
> to have an easy-to-use interface
> to be easily updateable
All of these are no problem with DynaText.
> to use linked Word documents.
This shouldn't be a big problem, although it will mean an extra step
because you have to turn the document into SGML somehow. You can do
this two ways: write in SGML to start with, or write in something like
Word and translate to SGML. EBT also sells the translation software,
although I have never used it. I just checked their brochure -- the
translation software definitely supports Word.
> What other products have you used besides Views? Acrobat? Lotus SmarText?
> DynaText? GuideAuthor? HyperWriter? What has your experience been? (The
> client does not want to use WinHelp.) What are the pros and cons?
Use Acrobat only if the precise layout of the document is important to you.
This is usually only the case for marketing brochures and the like.
DynaText will feel basically like a web browser, except that you'll
have more control over the style of presentation. But you won't have
absolute control -- e.g. you can't control page breaking, since there
aren't any "pages".
Hope this helps...
--
Glenda Jeffrey Email: jeffrey -at- hks -dot- com
Hibbitt, Karlsson & Sorensen, Inc Phone: 401-727-4200
1080 Main St. Fax: 401-727-4208
Pawtucket, RI 02860
