TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Summary: doc deliv via web From:Kristy Astry <KASTRY -at- CJDS -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 12 Nov 1998 09:45:43 -0700
Thanks to all who responded! Quite a few responses were, "Please let me
know, too!" I'm sure you all saw Jerry Day's response; that was excellent.
Others are summarized as follows:
"...we do provide our doc in PDF form via CD. One challenge I have yet to
overcome is the graphic quality of screen shots..."
"...by far the best tool for web publishing while maintaining absolute
formatting control (headers, footers, graphics, etc.) is Adobe's Acrobat..."
"...We like using Framemaker to Acrobat because you can be quite creative
with the page layout and display (as compared to HTML)...HTML works
efficiently inside a browser without fiddlling around. If you do decide to
go the Acrobat route: your users will not want to wait for an entire
Acrobat file to download unless they have a T1 connection; make sure that
your server supports 'byte-serving' or 'streaming'...you can
password-protect files using Acrobat..."
"...(via intranet) I had several thousand internal users who needed
technical updates on the software they were using; our old process was to
write notices in Frame, print, and mail every 4-6 months. I was able to get
the entire procedure converted to HTML in a few months. The biggest
challenge was just plain fear (on the user's part)...I spent about a month
dedicated almost exclusively to getting my (older) users comfortable w/their
web browsers, troubleshooting networks, and holding their hands...
"...We provide Acrobat manuals as well as online help (WinHelp), a tutorial,
sample reports, and lessons...our biggest challenge was getting implementers
to include it with the install...another challenge, informing users what's
available online...we link to the PDFs directly from the Help menu, which
has helped raise awareness..."
Be sure to check the archives via Cambridge publications for more info on
this subject. Happy researching!
Kristy Lantz Astry
Columbine JDS Systems, Inc.
Denver, CO
email: kastry -at- cjds -dot- com
Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
