Re: PDF vs WinHelp

[Bill Burns <BillDB -at- ILE -dot- COM>]

Susan writes:

> Disclaimer: I think this is a bad idea. I'd prefer to leave the
> information in help and duplicate it in PDF format. The primary reason
> they're wanting to do this is because localizing FrameMaker files is
> cheaper than localizing Help files. Surprisingly, they're not
> interested
> in our investigation into single-sourcing.
>
Okay, I'll bite. They may be assuming that the cost is inherent in the
format itself, which is not the case. My guess is that the additional
cost for WinHelp is incurred during verification and validation. That's
when the translator and software localization engineer go through each
screen to make sure everything is documented and linked correctly. If
they're expecting PDF to solve this problem, it may not work out as they
hope. If they include screen captures that have text, then the images
will still have to be localized. If they include extensive hypertext
linking, then the links will have to be verified. Either way, they'll
have to validate all instructions. What's more is that the accessibility
will be reduced considerably since the application will have to launch
Acrobat rather than WinHelp. They may also have less search capability
(depending on whether they use Catalog to create a full-text index).

Acrobat has its strong points, but it isn't good for quick, need-to-know
information in the middle of a task. It's fine if people will always
print what they want to read, but I don't use WinHelp that way.

Bill Burns
Senior Technical Writer
ILE Communications Group
billdb -at- ile -dot- com

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