Re: What to put online

[Michael LaTorra <mikel -at- HUEY -dot- ACCUGRAPH -dot- COM>]

Carl --

You asked about documentation being online vs. paper and:

>Who else is scaling down - or phasing out - hard copy?  What are you
>choosing to keep in hard copy?

A few months ago I posted a similar query about whether people
would still want paper manuals if they could have context-sensitive,
hypertexted, online help.  Of those who responded, 17 out of 18 still
want paper manuals.

My company is trying to put everything we have online, but so far
we are still providing paper manuals as well.  IMO paper manuals
are still needed/wanted because (a) they are very portable [one
respondent liked to take them home for a quick read before actually
diving into a new piece of software at work], (b) you can write
notes in the margin [which is essential if you discover errors in
the text], (c) you can flip through a manual and get an idea of
the entire scope of the work, which is more difficult with even the
best online help systems [Ever wonder at which level in the online help
hierarchy you are?], and finally (d) many people have a deep
psychological attachment to books.

Live long & prosper,
Mike LaTorra

Documentation Supervisor
Accugraph Inc.
mikel -at- accugraph -dot- com
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The opinions expressed are my own, and not necessarily those of my
company -- but they probably should be.
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