Re: On-line Documentation vs Training Materials

[The Tech Writer <techwrtr -at- CRL -dot- COM>]

> I'd like to develop our documentation in on-line
> format, but don't know if everything can be included... For the most
> part, everything refers back to a standard set of procedures (until you
> get to trouble shooting).

While I'll save the other parts of your message for the more wise members
of the list, I'd like to address this portion of your message.

Sometimes, hybrids of online and hard copy can work well. It seems that
if you have a core set of procedures, you could have these in hard copy
(easy to access, and hopefully small), and then put the more customized
instructions in an online format.

I am planning to do a hybrid online/hard copy task when I take over our
Getting Started manual. Our product is so large and has so many facets
that to do a Getting Started manual that would answer all of the "why am
I doing this" questions, it would have to be as big as the User's Guide.
Instead of including all of the answers in the hard copy, I'll be putting
them into an online help format. That way, if the users *want* more
information about a particular area of the tutorial, they can refer to a
certain topic in the help file. Otherwise, they can ignore the reference
and continue on.

I'd actually love to be in your shoes. It sounds like a big task, but you
don't sound terribly stressed, which makes me think that your management
has given you enough time to do it right...and how many of us have been
given that? :-)

-David Castro
 techwrtr -at- crl -dot- com

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