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Subject:Re: Shipping a product with only the online help From:Steve Riley <SRILEY -at- BCT-SYSTEMS -dot- CO -dot- UK> Date:Wed, 21 Oct 1998 11:01:10 +0100
> To my dismay, my project leader has decided to try sending
> out a product with only the online help. No installation
> guide, no user's guide.
We need to be careful to not react in self-interested
ways here
...well of course there should be printed manuals,
because, well because I write printed manuals.
As the list mantra goes, it depends almost entirely on
your audience. In our development shop, my colleagues
devour new products. I'd say the online/printed split
is maybe 80/20, and of that 20% many have unbroken spines.
Things change, online is becoming more appropriate as
expectations change. The value of your product has only
a hazy relationship to the weight of the box it comes in.
Ask yourself what's appropriate, it may be different to
what you've done before ...or maybe not.
