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Subject:Re: Is hypertext more productive? From:Mike Pope <mikep -at- ASYMETRIX -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 24 Mar 1994 10:52:00 PST
Was there an index in the 35-binder product?
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>From: TECHWR-L
>To: Multiple recipients of list TECHWR-L
>Subject: Re: Is hypertext more productive?
>Date: Thursday, March 24, 1994 11:25AM
>From an empirical point of view, I'm sure you can find a lot of
>testimonials that hypertext helps users *find* information much faster
>(as opposed to *reading* a hypertext manual from start to finish like a
book).
>But then you have to temper that with how well the hypertext doc is
>put together. A lousy hypertext doc will make the paper manual look like a
>godsend.
>One anecdote I have is that a user could not for the life of him find
>information about "x" in the five-thousand page, 35 binder product manual.
>His two-day search was costing his company thousands of dollars because
>their system was not configured correctly. We searched for "x" using the
>hypertext version (then in development) and found the needed information in
>about 10 minutes. In this case, at least, using hypertext was certainly
more
>productive than using paper.
>Carl Gotlieb
>r1478c -at- tempeccpb -dot- sps -dot- mot -dot- com
>Phoenix, AZ
