Re: Navigation in pdf

[Michel Vallee <valleem -at- CAM -dot- ORG>]

Hi Bill,

> Michel Vallee wrote:
> > I'm trying to establish if Adobe Acrobat can really be a solution in
> > the online vs. paper issue, at least for my company's needs. Presently
we
> > distribute a large set of documents both in html (online) and pdf
> > (printable) formats. It would be nice to have only one document that
> > meets all need.

Bill replied:
> Well... I dunno... I think (...) having one document for both may only
> be nice for the technical communicator, and not for the user/consumer.
> Given (...), I guess I just haven't seen any examples of "single
sourcing"
> that was "worth it" for my audience.
> Sure, I could save time, but am I doing the best thing for
> my audience?  I believe this is the question that you need to ask.

I have to agree.

Michel said:
> > IMO, right now HTML does not qualify on either side: still
> > lacking basic feature like popups, contents and index (these should
> > come with html-help, but when?),

Bill replied:
> I have to beg to differ.  They're here now.  Netscape NetHelp has all of
> the features you've mentioned you want, today.

Right, it was here and now at the Winhelp Conference in May
(or was it April?) 1996, when Microsoft announced the death
of Winhelp, and that HTML-Help would be there... I don't remember
when, it was supposed to be here some time ago anyway :>|. But then, about
Netscape Help... did you, or would you use it for your customers?
Now maybe (probably ) I'm gonna look the greatest fool that ever
breathed on this planet, but I still have to *see* a document using
Netscape Help with popups, contents, and an index... I use Netscape
Navigator v3.0 (and I confess it's an old version 3.0), and there's no
popup whatsoever anywhere to be seen, especially not under the
Help option (not that there are no opportunities to use them). Now
I don't have the Gold option, and God forgive me for my ignorance
if I'm wrong :< )).
The truth is, you are a technical writer, you work for an IS company,
people who ought to know no technology lasts very long these days,
they still expect you to provide them with a "permanent" solution
for documentation. They never heard of Netscape Help (of course
they don't know about HTML-Help either), and you're gonna have
a very hard time convincing them to adopt it, and if you do convince
them, pray God that it lasts many years, and if it does not, that
the conversion to HTML-Help is not too painful, $$$-ly speaking.
The truth is most people who know about these Help offerings
agree Nescape Help won't survive long after HTML-Help is born.

> And, MS HTMLHelp is
> supposed to be released in its first release in August, again with the
> features you mentioned you want, now. I'd imagine that by fall you'll
> see D2H and RH have authoring
> solutions for both of the major HTML Help platforms (...)

True, and I look forward to RH's offerings.

p.s.: Thank you for your comments, Bill.

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