TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:RE: Printed vs PDF documents From:"Jones, Donna" <DJones -at- zebra -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Thu, 14 Oct 2004 12:32:52 -0500
We started putting our user guides on CDs in PDF format last year (the customer gets a CD in the box with the printer now instead of hard copies), and the PDFs are always available through our web site. Hard copies were made available through print-on-demand. In the last year, I don't think there have been more than a handful of orders for the hard copies--if that many--across multiple printer lines. Based on that, we realized that it's probably less expensive and less hassle to just print a copy ourselves and ship it to anyone who really wants a hard copy from us. Our coworkers in California don't even bother with the print-on-demand copies any more, and we're no longer providing them with any short-lived products.
Judging based on the lack of calls to tech support, our customers don't seem to care if the documentation is electronic or paper-based, as long as the information that they're looking for is there and is easily accessible. People appear to be content to print out a few pages if they need them rather than having a full copy that's provided with the printer.
Donna
Donna L. Jones
--------------------------------------
Technical Writer II
Zebra Technologies Corp.
Vernon Hills, IL
djones -at- zebra -dot- com
-----Original Message-----
I am soliciting opinions/experiences with transitioning from printed to
PDF documents. I am hoping to save on our considerable printing costs.
How were PDF documents received by your customers? Yes, I have polled
our customers, I just want as much information as possible from fellow
professionals before I make a case for or against to present to our
product managers.
ROBOHELP X5: Featuring Word 2003 support, Content Management, Multi-Author
support, PDF and XML support and much more!
TRY IT TODAY at http://www.macromedia.com/go/techwrl
WEBWORKS FINALDRAFT: New! Document review system for Word and FrameMaker
authors. Automatic browser-based drafts with unlimited reviewers. Full
online discussions -- no Web server needed! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archiver -at- techwr-l -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Send administrative questions to lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
