Re: On-line manuals -- we do them

Subject: Re: On-line manuals -- we do them
From: denise passmore <woodstuck -at- EARTHLINK -dot- NET>
Date: Fri, 16 Aug 1996 21:21:00 -0700


> Dick Harris wrote:

> I would venture to say that most customers of software products would
> love it if the complete manual set was online, if a one-sheet
> installation sheet wer shipped too. Every user would have a manual, and
> it would never get lost (borrowed). I believe an engineeran engineer can
> make updates/changes in some way and feed those back to us via surface m-
> ail on a floppy disk. Most engineers never do.
> <end quote>

Obviously, your customers are far different from the ones I have dealt
with. They generally hate online help and are reluctant to even attempt
to use it. These people are not particuarly PC literate and do it only
as part of their job. Maybe if they were trained better, maybe if the
whole system were designed better, maybe if we could do the impossible
... But in all honesty even I, as an online Help developer will turn to
a print manual almost every time over the online.

Denise Passmore

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