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Re: Online help for GUI/web-based config app of HW telecom products
Subject:Re: Online help for GUI/web-based config app of HW telecom products From:Robert Lauriston <robert -at- lauriston -dot- com> To:Erika Yanovich <ERIKA_y -at- rad -dot- com>, TECHWR-L Writing <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Sun, 1 May 2016 10:35:11 -0700
If it doesn't reduce support calls due to product-docs version
mismatch, maybe there's not enough value to bother doing it.
On Sat, Apr 30, 2016 at 11:48 PM, Erika Yanovich <ERIKA_y -at- rad -dot- com> wrote:
> I agree with you. The funny thing is that when the config app is detached from the product, they are OK with Help (already delivering). They fail to see the value when in the "client-server configuration utility with the server running on the appliance".
> Erika
>
> -----Original Message-----
> Seems like a cultural shift that they're failing to make. They're used to command-line setup with PDF docs, and don't understand why a GUI makes a difference.
>
> If the GUI is just a wrapper around a CLI output and input, then PDF-only still makes sense. If the GUI is the client in a client-server configuration utility with the server running on the appliance, then it would be weird not to have online help.
>
> When I've written / maintained such docs, we always distributed as PDF as well, so service techs and customers could look at them when the device was offline or unreachable.
>
> On Tue, Apr 26, 2016 at 9:14 PM, Erika Yanovich <ERIKA_y -at- rad -dot- com> wrote:
>> ... business equipment bought by large service providers, deployed in their networks. Our target audience is techs who install and configure such equipment, usually via CLI, but sometimes via GUI. ..
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