Re: Printed vx. Online: What mix?

[Lori Lathrop <76620 -dot- 456 -at- COMPUSERVE -dot- COM>]

I must admit that I haven't been following this thread very closely;
however, I agree with Connie Winch's posting and I'm grateful for the
list of sources she provided.

Although many of you know of me as a professional indexer, I want to make
it clear that the opinions I express in this message are as a *user*, not
just as an indexer.

I recently bought a software suite (developer shall remain unnamed) and,
naturally, I decided to look through the documentation before installing
the product.  Unfortunately, I was disappointed to see that about half of
the index entries in a user's guide said *Search Help*.  I was not only
frustrated, but infuriated as well because the developer had completely
ignored the fact that some users (like me) might want to learn about the
product *before* installing it!

Also, as a user, I do *not* want the precious space on my hard drive taken
up with documentation.  Altho' I have a gigabyte hard drive, I do *not*
want it consumed with product documentation.

So ... please, developers, don't think that whatever way is easiest for
*you* is also easiest for those of us who purchase your products.

Lori Lathrop
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