TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
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Flo Gherman reports: <<I am working as a technical writer for a company that
plans to deliver documentation only in pdf format from now on. This way our
customers will have the choice to read the documents online or in hardcopy
format and, of course, we will save the printing money. Now, I have a pdf
formatting dilemma - if I can call it like this. Should I format my pdfs
using online formatting rules or hardcopy rules?>>
Many readers (not all) really hate reading PDF documents online if they're
formatted for printing; count me among this group. If I want to see an
entire page at a time, I have to shrink the document to the point that I can
no longer read the text; conversely, if I want to be able to read the text,
I can't see the relationships between the various parts of the page (a
serious problem if the document is in two columns or uses graphics designed
to be tied to the text so the two work as a single unit). End result? Unless
I'm looking for a one-line answer to a question, I get fed up and print the
document. At about US$0.05 to US$0.10 per page (laser toner, paper, wear and
tear on the printer--see the recent issue of PC Magazine, www.pcmag.com,
that discussed inkjet printers for details on these calculations), this
costs me easily three times what it would cost me if you simply printed the
manual and added it to the cost of the product. That doesn't make me happy,
not at all.
Moreover, if you include the cost of the manual in the cost of the product,
the sales department automatically marks up that cost when they set a price
for the product that will earn a profit, and that turns the documentation
into a profit center: not only do you recover the printing cost, but you
also earn a profit. Maybe even enough to pay your salary. The math is simple
enough to be worth mentioning to your managers.
--Geoff Hart, FERIC, Pointe-Claire, Quebec
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
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