Re: need advice on binding

[Jane S Torpie <handson!boston -dot- handson -dot- com!janet -at- UUNET -dot- UU -dot- NET>]

Kim Ferri asked about the pros & cons of binding using 3-ring binders ...

Kim,
In almost 10 years of writing for various companies, I've found that 3-ring
binders
a pain and often an added expense.  I'd avoid it for the following reasons:

The production phase gets more complicated & expensive.  You have to
design binders, solicit bids, place orders, & track inventory.  Much easier
to
put paper covers on books & have your printer deal with it, all rolled into
the
printing project you have to manage anyway.  (Much easier if you're the only
writer, too!)

Unfortunately, if you write change pages, the burden is on the customer to
update their books and they often don't do it, either b/c they're too
lazy/busy,
or the original books and the change pages don't make it to the same desk
(original user changed companies or projects, etc.)  Customers get peeved,
sometimes additional copies must be shipped, inventory tracking can be an
order of magnitude more complicated, the doc. sometimes looks incomplete
for reasons you can't possibly control, etc.

When the customer calls Hotline Support with a question, the support person
has to determine which version of the doc. the customer has.  This means you
have to put a footer or some other code on each page ...

At first look, I also thought it was easier & more economical to use 3-ring.
 But
having done it, I'd advise against that ...

Jane S. Torpie
Course Development Consultant
Hands On Learning / Learn PC
Burlington, Massachusetts, USA
617-272-0888
janet -at- handson -dot- com

 ----------
From: TECHWR-L
To: Multiple recipients of list TECHWR-L
Subject: need advice on binding
Date: Monday, October 24, 1994 4:13PM

Several of our customers have requested that we change our binding format.
 We
 are currently using wiro binding.  Customers and internal folks are
requesting
 3-ring binders for the following reasons:

o Update information with change pages instead of just release notes.

o We expect to have many updates during the next 12-18 months.


I'm aware of the following problems with 3-ring binder formats:

o Binders are expensive.  That means initial cost will exceed my normal
printing
 costs.

o Binders are known to cause customers to lose pages.

o Change pages produce additional overhead, since we have to produce release
 notes anyway.


Because I am a department of one, resources are limited.  I'd appreciate
your
 sharing your experiences with 3-ring binder formats.


Kimberly Ferri