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.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:RE: Digital delivery of documentation? From:"Victoria Wroblewski" <victoria -dot- wroblewski -at- eagletest -dot- com> To:"Erika Yanovich" <ERIKA_y -at- rad -dot- com>, "TECHWR-L Writing" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Wed, 6 May 2009 09:14:19 -0500
-----Original Message-----
From: Erika Yanovich
Sent: Wednesday, May 06, 2009 7:23 AM
To: Victoria Wroblewski; TECHWR-L Writing
Subject: RE: Digital delivery of documentation?
>Victoria, could you please elaborate on
><installer on the CD that pretty
>much just copies over the documentation library (library index is also
a
>PDF, linked to all the other PDFs) so you don't need to do looking for
>"that darned doc CD" when you actually need something off of it.>
>Is this something that comes from Adobe or a custom code?
>From what I know, the initial installer was built using an InstallShield
product around 2005 and while it could use some polish and shine, it
still does what it needs to do. It basically copies the PDF library
over to the computer (we are lucky that we have a controlled environment
as far as the PCs - they should be installing the manuals on the PC we
sold them). The files are accessible through a main TOC, which is a
PDF, which links to the rest of the PDFs. For each new release of
documentation, we just update/add to the PDFs, update the main TOC, burn
it to a master CD and then copy as needed (we don't produce huge numbers
of each software release, so we burn/print the CDs in-house. I like to
call it "homemade documentation").
If you don't have the resources to build an installer or
burning/printing CDs is not something that can be done easily, you can
accomplish the same thing by building the docs into a zip file that
customers can download.
- V
**This transmission may contain information that is privileged, confidential and/or exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution, or use of the information contained herein (including any reliance thereon) is STRICTLY PROHIBITED. If you received this transmission in error, please immediately contact the sender and destroy the material in its entirety, whether in electronic or hard copy format. Thank you.**
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
ComponentOne Doc-To-Help 2009 is your all-in-one authoring and publishing
solution. Author in Doc-To-Help's XML-based editor, Microsoft Word or
HTML and publish to the Web, Help systems or printed manuals. http://www.doctohelp.com
Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-
