RE: Survey: how do you use PDFs

[Scott Wahl <wahl_scott -at- yahoo -dot- ca>]

Many of us have stated our opinions about PDFs as
users... but I would be more interested in hearing
about feedback from our customers.

Over the past year, we've moved to providing all our
documentation on a secure website in _both_ HTML and
PDF format. We also provide printed documentation upon
request - but only for our core documentation set (not
everything) and only once per release, once the
software is hardened.

We are still gathering data, including web usage
stats, but we've found the following so far:

(1) Customers like having documentation on the web for
a bunch of reasons: information is easily accessibile;
information is up-to-date with their version of the
software, even early in the release; and our
turn-around time with corrected docs is very fast if
they find errors or ommissions.

(2) For reading online, most customers do indeed seem
to prefer the HTML docs. But they also like the option
of being able to download the PDF to their PCs for
future reference and for printing specific sections.
This is especially true for detailed reference
material.

(3) Some customers do request printed documentation.
But the demand for printed books has decreased
significantly since we've made everything available on
the web site.

The bottom line: PDF does have its uses but (as
always) it's important to get feedback from your
customers and your customer support folks about what
sort of information delivery makes the most sense.

./Scott

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