Re: Help or User Manual First?

Subject: Re: Help or User Manual First?
From: Mary Shaw <MSHAW -at- MONEYNET -dot- COM>
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 12:18:31 -0400

Tom Altom wrote:
>> Again without having taken the time
>> to read the white paper, I'd have to
>> stand for the moment with those
>> who'd advocate doing the two files
>> separately, and in two different tools.
>> That is, if you have the time and
>> the money. Given the increasing costs
>> of development time and the inevitable
>> shortening of time-to-market, I'd say that
>> the trend is toward single-source, not away.

I used Doc-To-Help in my last job. It's a good tool in cases where you
want to create a hardcopy manual and then put that manual online.

In my current job, we use RoboHelp to create context sensitive help
using Microsoft's "minimalist" approach. IMO, the resultant help is less
cumbersome and easier to use, but hardcopy manuals then become a
whole additional project.

It's definitely a trade-off.

-- Mary
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/MTShaw/

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