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Subject:Re: Is hypertext more productive? From:Gotlieb Carl R1478C <r1478c -at- TEMPECCPB -dot- SPS -dot- MOT -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 24 Mar 1994 11:25:02 MST
From an empirical point of view, I'm sure you can find a lot of
testimonials that hypertext helps users *find* information much faster
(as opposed to *reading* a hypertext manual from start to finish like a book).
But then you have to temper that with how well the hypertext doc is
put together. A lousy hypertext doc will make the paper manual look like a
godsend.
One anecdote I have is that a user could not for the life of him find
information about "x" in the five-thousand page, 35 binder product manual.
His two-day search was costing his company thousands of dollars because
their system was not configured correctly. We searched for "x" using the
hypertext version (then in development) and found the needed information in
about 10 minutes. In this case, at least, using hypertext was certainly more
productive than using paper.
Carl Gotlieb
r1478c -at- tempeccpb -dot- sps -dot- mot -dot- com
Phoenix, AZ
