Re: Shipping a product with only the online help

[Suzette Seveny <sseveny -at- PETVALU -dot- COM>]

On Wednesday, October 21, 1998 2:59 AM, Guru [SMTP:guru -at- BOM5 -dot- VSNL -dot- NET -dot- IN]
wrote:
>
> I think it is a good idea to ship products with only the online help. (Has
> anyone ever seen/read the Internet Explorer/Netscape/ICQ Manuals?

Uh, yes - I purchased Netscape Communicator, and it came with two very nice
manuals and a quick reference card.  I have even used them.

Installed ICQ a long time ago, when I was still fairly new to the internet.  I
had some niggling (is that a word?) type of questions about what I could do
with it - so I sent away for the manual.

No matter how hard to try to create an intuitive product, everone will
interpret the system differently.  I am a self-acknowledge book fanatic, and as
a result my friends always call me when they have a software / hardware
problem.  Why?  Because they know I have the book.

User
> Interfaces today replace the need for documentation.) Of course, I am
> assuming that your product is a simple off-the-shelf kind of product. I feel
> Installation Instructions should be available somewhere because of the wide
> range of users (novice to power users).  Documentation is mostly not used or
> used only for reference. Therefore it is a good idea to skip the efforts and
> expenses on hardcopy documents and make the online help stronger and better.
> Users can print the entire help if they want!

Help is usually written in a different style and for a different purpose.  I
use online help for a quick "how-to", but it's the documentation I turn to when
I REALLY want to understand something.

If I have a software program that includes the docs on a CD (usually in PDF
format) - first thing I do is print them and stick them in a binder.
>
> However, I am not comfortable with your project leader's approach: the idea
> of letting the users complain and then we will attend to it.  I think you
> need to answer this important question yourself first:  "Can my users
> (majority of them) do without hard copy documentation? Can they manage with
> online help?" If the answer is positive in both cases, then you know what to
> do. But, if the answer is: "My users expect documentation.", I think you
> need to provide the documentation -- even if it is going to be rarely used.

As another poster already stated - you won't hear from your customers.  They
ones who can get along without documentation will do so, and be fine about it.
 The ones who feel they need the docs will buy your competitor's product.
>
> There is yet another aspect to this. If I feel that the product can do with
> only online help and the hardcopy documentation is just a
> tradition/ritual/habit -- then I would try to issue only the online help and
> convince customers to change. This follows from minimalism principles and
> ecology needs.  Why cut down hundreds of forests to print user manuals which
> are not read anway!  Also, why duplicate efforts.  (BTW, I have been
> influenced by the excellent papers on Minimalism in the ~STC Book on
> Minimalism: Beyond the Nurnberg Funnel~ edited by John Carroll.)

Perhaps ICQ has the right approach - the manual is there if you want it -
simply order it.
>
Suzette Seveny
Markham, Ontario, Canada
sseveny -at- petvalu -dot- com or suzette -at- yesic -dot- com

 From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000=