Re: Navigation in pdf

[David Knopf <david -at- KNOPF -dot- COM>]

Michel Vallee wrote:

> I'm trying to establish if Adobe Acrobat can really be a solution in
> the
> online vs. paper issue, at least for my company's needs. Presently we
> distribute a large set of documents both in html (online) and pdf
> (printable) formats. It would be nice to have only one document that
> meets
> all needs. IMO, right now HTML does not qualify on either side: still
> lacking basic feature like popups, contents and index (these should
> come
> with html-help, but when?), and, well, not really printable.
> Acrobat is ok for printing. But when it comes to really assess its
> potentialities on-screen, there's one thing I can't get straight: the
> navigation feature(s), namely the Find and Search features. I seem to
> understand that the Find feature is limited to the current document,
> which
> is not what I need, and the Search feature covers a collection of
> documents. But it seems so complicated! There are no less than 4
> options
> under Search, and I read somewhere in the help files that searching is
> a
> 4-step process! How can you as a technical writer conceivably hope
> users
> will put up with it when you can't use it yourself?
> Is it me?
> Can someone fill me up on this?

Michael,

Acrobat can indeed be a solution for delivering information online,
depending on your circumstances and the requirements of your project.

You are correct about Find and Search. Find performs a simple search for
a string within the currently displayed file. Search lets you perform a
full-text search across a collection of documents--for example, the
complete documentation for a software product. There are actually five
search options, but I do not think this is overwhelming for certain
types of users. Even "simple" WinHelp, after all, offers three search
options (Contents, Index, and Find).

At my company, we have recently completed a project where we created a
set of Acrobat files containing more than 4,000 pages of documentation
for a cross-platform network documentation system. The documentation was
all created in FrameMaker and therefore is extensively (and
automatically) hyperlinked. We have also used Acrobat Catalog to produce
indexes that make it possible to perform full-text searches on the
documents. The users, many of whom are mobile and can hardly carry 4,000
pages of documentation along with their laptops, seem happy with the
idea that they can access and search the documentation online.

You are right that there is a challenge in making sure that users can
find out how to use Acrobat search effectively. While we can expect that
most experienced Windows users understand at least the basics of using
WinHelp, we can't assume that with Acrobat. It's necessary, therefore,
to provide *printed* documents describing how to use the online Acrobat
files. An interesting irony.

Hope thie helps ...

- David Knopf


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David Knopf      Tel: 415-731-8398    david -at- knopf -dot- com
Knopf Online     Fax: 415-731-8399    http://www.knopf.com/
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