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Subject:updates (was binders) From:Miki Magyar <mdm0857 -at- MCDATA -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 6 Mar 1997 12:59:25 -0700
Robert Plamondon said, "I believe that sending out complete, updated
manuals is more effective than sending out changed pages, though the
users tend to ignore both."
I agree. Both as a user and an observer of users, I note that change
pages are a pain in the <insert favorite anatomy part here>, and rarely get
used, even if they contain vital information. How is a user supposed to
know whether it's just correcting something trivial or disclosing a critical
fact? What I did in my last job was to make sure that tech support (the
guys who talk to whining customers) got all changes as soon as they
were approved. And then we incorporated all the changes in the next
rev. It seemed to work.
As for Joe Sokohl's comment, "I weigh in heavily _against_
binders...mostly because I consider the design a throwback to the '80s."
Hey, Joe, what about all us grey-haired throw-back types? Just because
something was popular a 'long time ago' (whatever minute interval that is
these days), doesn't automatically mean it's obsolete. Why, putting
pictures in with the text was all the rage back in the days of illuminated
manuscripts.
Miki
mikim -at- mcdata -dot- com
Sweeping generalizations are always a mistake.
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