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Subject:Re: TW and grad school From:"Huber, Mike" <mrhuber -at- SOFTWARE -dot- ROCKWELL -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 11 Feb 1998 08:16:48 -0600
Ummm, what's wrong with an academic program noticing the obvious?
Online help and manuals answer different user needs, and present
different navigational, organizational, delivery, and design challenges.
Some companies consider single-souring a hint that the document model
needs to be re-examined. Where I work, we solved the problem of
duplicating material in online and print by dramatically reducing the
amount of printed material. We now have manuals that are so short, some
people actually read them.
Given the relative expense of printed documentation, the unpopularity of
huge books, and the short lifespan of a single revision of a modern
technological product, I don't see a long future for widespread
single-souring. What needs to be on paper will be on paper. The rest
won't be. It works here.
---
mike -dot- huber -at- software -dot- rockwell -dot- com
Home: nax -at- execpc -dot- com
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Bruce Byfield [SMTP:bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com]
>
>One problem in education is the speed at which the field is moving. For
>example, I know of at least one program in which students are still
>being taught to think of paper and on-line manuals as different,
>although the real issue for many working writers is how to single-source
>both types of manuals.
>
