RE: Poll: Provide documentation in PDF & Help formats, or only in Help formats?

[Pamela Denchfield <PamelaD -at- onyx -dot- com>]

Lin asks:
Is anyone aware of any company providing enterprise level software who
does NOT also provide PDF documentation?
Does anyone agree that help files only are acceptable documentation?
Why or why not?

Hi Lin, 

The question your boss asks is "Do other companies spend the time/effort
on printed PDFs?" Presumably the question is framed within your
industry. 

A better question might be "Do our customers expect/want printed PDFs?"
Maybe you can talk to support or others at your company for insight. I'm
sure expectations and wants differ by task, as you suggest. 

Anecdotal data from my workplace: PDFs are included with our products,
which fall in the "enterprise level software" category. The PDFs have
typically targeted setup tasks, including installation. We have had
feedback from "those in the field" that PDFs for installation and such
are expected and used. 

Hope this helps,
Pamela Denchfield



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