Re: Go Completely "On-line"

[Jason Willebeek-LeMair <jlemair -at- ITEXCHSRV2 -dot- PHX -dot- MCD -dot- MOT -dot- COM>]

My department provides hardcopy, PDF, and HTML.  Each one fills a
different need.

Hardcopy -- in a recent survey, eighty-some percent of the respondents
stated that preferred paper.  This is probably because it is mostly
hardware installation and configuration stuff, and it is easier to dive
into the bowels of a system and bring a booklet along rather than a
monitor (and why make them take the extra step of printing it out?).

PDF -- The second favorite choice by internal and external customers
alike.  They liked the fact that they could copy a single file to a
laptop and take the entire manual with them; liked the interface; and
liked the fact that if they printed it, it would look just like the
manual.

HTML -- The least favorite choice, but it still fills a purpose.  We
provide this for customers who are looking for a single bit of
information about the product.  Much quicker to find it this way using
the Boolean search tools provided (our customers are engineers -- they
seem to dig that Boolean search).

Our source comes from FrameMaker or our SGML authoring system.  PDF from
Frame is a snap; a little more difficult from the postscript our SGML
system generates (manual link coding).  We use DynaWeb to convert to
HTML (easy enough since our documents are highly structured).

So, once again, it all boils down to what the customer prefers, is
comfortable with, and will use before calling support.  Other companies'
customers may prefer HTML over all else, others may refuse online docs
altogether.

        Jason