Re. Cases where online won't work?

[Geoff Hart <geoff-h -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>]

     Rose Wilcox, devilishly advocating, rebutted my arguments against
     purely online documentation. Thus, I paraphrase (sorry, can't quote!)
     and rebut in return:

     - How many people actually read the manuals on plains, trains and
     automobiles? Hard data: _all_ of the one that I saw holding the
     manuals were reading them. (The manuals I found while rooting through
     people's luggage may or may not have been read eventually, so I
     excluded them from my sample.) <grin>

     - Reading on airplanes: what about laptops? I can't read laptop
     screens for any length of time, and won't be able to until they hit
     300 dpi resolution and a contrast level at least comparable to that of
     newsprint.

     - Obscuring the main screen with help windows, printing a copy for
     reference: Yes, you can screw around with the window size and position
     until you can see the help and the main software simultaneously, but
     it can take a bit of work. But as soon as you start typing in the main
     program screen, the instructions in the Winhelp window (and the window
     itself) mysteriously disappear... at least in CCMail, where I'm
     writing this. If you change your window size so both windows are
     available on the screen simultaneously, but not overlapping, then
     you've got miniscule space to read the docs while working with the
     software. (Actually, I couldn't resize CCMail small enough to do this,
     so I'm assuming your software is more civilized.) I'm unconvinced! As
     for printing, this merely shifts the costs of producing printed docs
     to the user... unfair, and likely to stir resentment. And what if
     you're on that there airplane I mentioned? I don't have a portable
     printer, nor would my fold-down tray give me room to print with the
     printer!

     - What if the engineer is a wirehead with no need of books? Touchay!
     My suggestion: sneak out to the wiring cabinet and pull the fuses that
     feed power to his wing of the building. Then he'll see how useful
     online help is! Mind you, then the software won't be running either,
     but at least you'll feel better. <grin>

     --Geoff Hart    =#8^{)}  <---devilishly advocating in return!
     geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca

     Disclaimer: If I didn't commit it in print in one of
     our reports, it don't represent FERIC's opinion.