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Subject:Re: Online versus Paper From:Kelly Hoffman <kelly -at- NASHUA -dot- HP -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 26 Sep 1994 12:59:13 -0400
Regarding the online vs. paper debate...
Hmmm, how come I get the impression that those who are vigorously
defending online doc as a replacement for printed doc all have big
monitors?
I don't mind online help so much when I'm using my 19/20/21-inch
(depending on how you measure it ;-) monitor at 1280x1024. On my
laptop, though (~9-inch at 640x480), it's a royal pain to do anything
other than quick look-ups in online help because there's typically no
way to view both the help and whatever I wanted help on in the first
place at the same time.
I also find it much easier to glean conceptual info (an overview of
how a product works, why you might want to use it, etc.) from printed
manuals than from online help. Perhaps it's a result of being able to
skim printed manuals more efficiently. For a quick reference on a
*particular* aspect of using a product, however, context-sensitive
online help is quite nice.
kkh
--
Kelly K. Hoffman kelly -at- nashua -dot- hp -dot- com
Learning Products Engineer
Hewlett-Packard, Network Test Division "Reading the manual is
One Tara Blvd., Nashua, NH 03062 admitting defeat."
