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RE: Electronic Help Files/Manuals HTML Help or PDF?
Subject:RE: Electronic Help Files/Manuals HTML Help or PDF? From:"Bill Swallow" <wswallow -at- nycap -dot- rr -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 30 Jan 2003 23:18:15 -0500
::: Now that Forehelp is gone the need to switch to another
::: help authoring tool is upon us. A debate is taking place on
::: whether we should continue with HTML-help or switch to PDF.
Why do you need to switch, out of curiosity. True, ForeFront is no more,
but the ForeHelp license you have now isn't turning into a pumpkin any
time soon... That is, if it ain't broke...
::: I would like to know what are the pros of PDFs. How
::: searchable is it? Is it at searchable as HTML-help? Any
::: pros and cons of both HTML-Help and PDF is appreciated.
PDFs are no more or less searchable than Help files. A list of pros and
cons will be hard to draw up between the two; it'd be easier to draw up
pros and cons of using both a ball-point pen and a banana. True, they
are both hypertext-friendly mediums for delivering information, but each
has its specific strengths and weaknesses.
What would help is to hear how you plan to use the information. Do you
want to be able to print the whole thing out or ranges of topics at a
time? Do you want something that's context-sensitive? Do you want
something comprehensive that functions as a stand-alone system as well
as a need-to-know-now answer solution?
BILL SWALLOW
Information Design & Development Professional
tel/fax: 518.371.1867
wswallow -at- nycap -dot- rr -dot- com
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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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