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Subject:On-line documentation vs Hard copy From:Damien Braniff <Damien_Braniff -at- PAC -dot- CO -dot- UK> Date:Thu, 29 Apr 1999 14:36:59 +0100
We are currently going down this road - very slowly! The initial push was to
reduce costs (not the best starting point) and our initial move has been to
supply the manuals "as is" but in pdf format with navigation links added. This
is not the most satisfactory solution but is, we hope, the first step in moving
"properly" online. The one advantage of pdf is that the customer can print them
out if they want to and they look just as the hard copy manuals do.
Before moving to the next stage we are investigating exactly what the customer
wants - initial feedback is mixed with a lot of people pro manuals, even those
who are also keen on having online docs with easy navigation, full search
facilities etc. Personally I feel that the time when online will REALLY replace
hard copy is quite a long way off (despite the claims of some products). In our
case we also have to deal with a wide breadth of end users from the PC whizzes
to those virtually PC illiterate.
