Re: Single-Sourcing Online and Printed Documentation

[Paul DuBois <paul -at- kitebird -dot- com>]

On Sun, Jan 12, 2003 at 04:26:42PM -0700, lightspeedchick -at- yahoo -dot- com wrote:
> I am trying to convince a small, inexperienced documentation team that it
> is a bad idea to simply print out the online help files to produce
> manuals.
> 
> I am looking for arguments to defend this point. 

Don't you first have to determine that, in this case, printing out the
online help files really *is* a bad idea?

I would guess that in most instances, online help files tend not to lend
themselves to the kind of continuity and organization that you'd expect
from printed documentation.  But it's also possible that the help files
could be very good in this regard -- in which case there is no argument
to make.

> 
> I would appreciate it if someone could refer me to articles that explain
> the differences in tone and content of online and printed documentation.
> 
> Thank you
> Marie-Jo

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
A new book on Single Sourcing has been released by William Andrew
Publishing: _Single Sourcing: Building Modular Documentation_
is now available at: http://www.williamandrew.com/titles/1491.html.

Help Authoring Seminar 2003, coming soon to a city near you! Attend this
educational and affordable one-day seminar covering existing and emerging
trends in Help authoring technology. See http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l2.

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