Tech Writing: The Next Generation

[David Handy <davidh -at- automsoft -dot- com>]

Hi all,
What do tech-whirlers think are the ideal formats and media for 
technical documentation? Put another way, what's your idea of 
the perfect system for writing and delivering large documents? 
By any chance is that system also the most up-to-date tools-wise? 
These are broad questions, I know, but my boss has given me the 
novel brief of writing the documentation for the next release of 
our software product with the most up-to-date media available. 
To quote him, he wants "the next generation of user documentation" 
to accompany the product release. 

I know (as does my boss) that the medium is the means to an end; 
still it's nice to get a free rein like this - and frankly I'm stumped 
as to what the 'next generation' of user docs might look like. We 
make an object-oriented database for fairly high-tech users, mostly 
industrial engineers. I've written our current user manual in Frame-
Maker (100-plus A4 pages); we ship it in print and, with a few 
tweaks, as a PDF. It contains a few dozen JPGs and several tables. 
The product is fully supported Help-wise also. 

Aside from improving the general layout and print quality of the 
manual, are there any advances in tools or media treatment that 
anyone can recommend? I ask particularly about ways to upgrade 
the electronic documentation. For example, are there good 
arguments in favour of delivering the manual in HTML? As it is, 
the current PDF is fully cross-referenced with a live TOC and live 
index. 

I did a big spend a few months back on Frame, Photoshop, 
RoboHELP Office and FullShot so I'd rather not buy any new 
tools unless they're really going to transform how I create 
the docs. 

Please mail me directly as I receive the digest version of the 
list. 

Thanks in advance,
David Handy 
Technical Writer 
Automsoft International
Dublin, Ireland
davidh -at- automsoft -dot- com