Re: PDF documentation and client delivery

[Barry Campbell <barry -at- WEBVERANDA -dot- COM>]

At 10:23 PM 7/13/98 -0400, Becky Roberts wrote:

>1.  If you deliver Acrobat files to clients, how do you ensure that the
>client has the reader loaded so that they can open the files?

We put the Reader software on the same CD-ROM as the PDF-format
manuals (per Adobe's licensing agreement) and include both on-CD
readme.txt files and a paper document explaining how to install
everything.

>2.  Please assure me that there are other folks out there who do this
>kind of delivery.  Management is now looking at me and questioning why I
>think PDF is such a good idea.

We've been doing this for a year and a half and it's a *huge* hit
with both customers and field support reps.  As stupid as it sounds,
shipping the CD-ROM with two pages of printed instructions makes all
the difference.

>3.  As delivery systems become more complex (whether CD-ROM or internet
>or whatever), who provides technical support for the documentation
>products?  I think this is an Operations issue and should be handled by
>the systems folks who handle other connection issues (our company is
>mainframe).  The systems folks don't seem to agree and don't want to
>learn about PDF and file servers.

There have only been a couple of occasions when customers have
experienced problems with their CD-ROM manual sets, and on those
occasions we (the doc group) have provided technical support. Our
systems guys are great, but they don't know PDF from a hole in the
ground.

--
Barry Campbell         | Why people tear the seams of anyone's dreams
barry -at- webveranda -dot- com   | is over my head... (Duke Ellington/Bob Russell,
40.77 N, 73.97 W       | "Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me")