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Subject:Re: In defense of pdf help systems From:Donald Le Vie <dlevie -at- VLINE -dot- NET> Date:Fri, 16 Jul 1999 13:16:51 -0500
Again as with most of these postings, it's all a matter of perspective and
what you've had success with in the past. I, like Mark, have used PDF for
making microprocessor documentation available the day I send my final book
file to the printer for hard copies. That way, the design engineers (my
customers) don't have to wait the 4 to 6 weeks for their hard copy reference
books. They have access to the information they need (they don't want an
online help system...all they want is a detailed TOC and a comprehensive,
accurate index in addition to solid, clear, unambiguous content) to begin
designing their products using microprocessors manufactured by....ah...the
company whose logo looks like the McDonald's arches enclosed in a
circle...("You can't always get what you want.....")
Donn Le Vie
Integrated Concepts
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mark X. Dempsey [SMTP:mxd2 -at- OSI -dot- COM]
> Sent: Friday, July 16, 1999 1:03 PM
> To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
> Subject: In defense of pdf help systems
>
> After reading "I personally don't like PDF as a delivery format. It
> strikes me as cheap, lazy, and technophobic" this money-saving,
> non-energy-wasting, late adopter of technology feels he must respond.
>
> We're putting out our online manuals in pdf format, and find they are an
> excellent replacement for online help. We've experimented with
> cross-platform/cross-browser help and discarded all the alternatives as
> buggy, not-ready-for-prime-time kluges that don't deliver information
> any better, and are a lot harder to maintain.
>
> PDF is by far the easiest way to get information out cross-platform. PDF
> is not a good replacement for context-sensitive help systems, but who
> cares? Despite the dancing paperclips, I've never used a
> context-sensitive help system that's better than an index. Most of the
> time it's just annoying.
>
> Since, directly from Framemaker, I can generate index and TOC that is
> links in pdf (and since I can automatically generate dictionary
> thumbtabs too), our pdf system gives access to a darned good index as
> immediately as any help system I've ever seen.
>
> Some previous poster complained that Acrobat was slow to load. We have a
> 22M file that loads as fast as much smaller ones. Perhaps it's not as
> quick as Microsoft's help because it has to load a separate application,
> but it'll do.
>
> This is not to say I admire Acrobat's help (it sucks!), or FrameMakers
> (not in pdf, it's in FrameViewer).
>
> Nevertheless, with some clever formatting (better than Adobe's, I say),
> and a little luck, I'm very proud of our PDF online docs.
>
> I now retire to rest on my laurels and count all the money I've
> saved....
>
> --
> Regards,
>
> -- mailto:Mark -dot- Dempsey -at- osi -dot- com
> --
> -- Mark Dempsey
> -- Technical Publications
> -- Objective Systems Integrators
> -- 110 Woodmere, Folsom, CA 95630
> -- 916.353.2400 x 4777
>
>
> From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000=
> =
>
