Re: Recent User Assistance Studies on Printed Books?

["Susan W Gallagher" <susanwg -at- gmail -dot- com>]

I have. LOL! I wrote a manual for a desktop utility and sent it out to beta.
It was only about 50 pages, so when one of the review comments came back
with "it's too big" I was floored. Too big? So I called the beta tester to
ask what he meant. Waddaya mean, too big??? He said, "it's a whole sheet of
paper - it needs to be way smaller than that!"

...and so I explained to him about crop marks. <g>

-Sue Gallagher


On 8/7/07, Gene Kim-Eng <techwr -at- genek -dot- com> wrote:
>
> ...Speaking
> strictly as a software user, I'd choose 8.5x11 in some sort of
> *truly* lay-flat binding over a 7.5x9 paperback book any day
> if anyone ever asked me, and for the majority of the products
> I've documented (almost all of which have been non-retail,
> industrial strength stuff), 8.5x11 or A4 is still the de facto (if
> not actually mandated) size.  I've yet to encounter a single
> user who expressed a preference for the smaller size book.
>
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