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Mapping PDF to HTML (was: Paper documentation vs. online help?)
Subject:Mapping PDF to HTML (was: Paper documentation vs. online help?) From:Erika Yanovich <ERIKA_y -at- Rad -dot- co -dot- il> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Sun, 21 Apr 2002 13:34:19 +0300
Susan, I absolutely agree with you (perhaps my mail wasn't clear enough --
shows what a great TW I am!). We also use the same compromise here. The best
of all worlds is having HTML documentation on line, but if the user wants to
print it, the Print button will actually print the PDF version. This is
something I never figured out how to do: printing the PDF pages of the HTML
the user was viewing when he/she clicked Print (not printing out the whole
PDF file).
Have anyone solved this problem?
Erika
-----Original Message-----
From: Susan W. Gallagher [mailto:susanwg -at- ix -dot- netcom -dot- com]
Sent: Thursday, April 18, 2002 6:44 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: RE: Paper documentation vs. online help?
At 01:53 PM 4/18/02 +0300, Erika Yanovich wrote:
>...if a print manual is not needed and all we
>have is online documentation, why choose PDF? The basis of PDF is a
>"photocopy" of the print manual + a few more features added on top of that,
>such as links, bookmarks, etc. If our media is the screen , why bother with
>a print-to-online technology while you can author directly in a tool meant
>for that?
It's never that a printed manual is not needed. Ask
the user! It's that a printed manual is an expense
that most companies choose to avoid.
Just because /our/target is the screen doesn't mean
that the screen is the /user's/ preferred delivery point.
Developing online help or HTML documentation provides
information that is easily accessed on-screen but is
extremely awkward to print out in any sizeable chunk.
And many users still prefer paper, especially when they
need to absorb highly complex technical info.
PDF is a compromise. We can deliver documentation that
meets the company's budget requirements (it's not as
costly as printing a book), provide information that
is easily accessible online, and still allow the user
to print out a chunk of information that has page numbers
and other paper-based user affordances.
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