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I personally don't like PDF as a delivery format. It strikes me as cheap,
lazy, and technophobic. It's designed like a printed page, but it's
delivered online. IMO, online help needs to be quick and to the point.
Online help is a last resort for users. When I write online help, I assume
I'm writing to someone who has tried about fifteen things on their own,
maybe checked a manual, and asked a coworker; all with no luck. I know this
isn't always the case, but I know I tend to get a little cheesed off when an
interface is designed in such a way that I can't just intuit what I need to
know. And this is probably illogical and all, but I am pretty much steaming
by the time I press F1. All I want is the answer. Right away. I don't want
to wait for Acrobat to open, and I really don't want to page through some
electronic representation of a paper manual.
There are a number of routes you could go, but if the stuff you're
documenting is web-based already, you may want to stick with straight-up
HTML Strict. It's OK to be a little ahead of the curve on your tags, as long
as you test your docs in a bunch of different browsers and ensure that they
degrade gracefully and look OK no matter what your platform, browser, or
version.
Lisa.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Heidi Waterhouse [mailto:hwaterhouse -at- SPSCOMMERCE -dot- COM]
> Sent: Friday, July 16, 1999 10:57 AM
> To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
> Subject: Acrobat Help Files?
>
>
> My department recently began discussing alternatives to the
> standard Windows Help format. We are beginning to document
> software products that will rely on Web-based technology. We
> have discussed several variations of HTML Help as a
> solution, but none look particularly stable. We are considering
> distributing PDF files with bookmarks and keyword links as
> the Online Help. Has anyone tried this? What are the pros
> and cons? Any other comments are welcome....
>
> Heidi Waterhouse
> SPS Commerce
> hwaterhouse -at- spscommerce -dot- com
>
>
> ==============================================================
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> TECHWR-L)
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