Re[2]: Electronic File Transfer

[Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- COM]

      Some one who uses Acrobat may correct this, but my impression is
      that Acrobat is a "Save As" option for DTP and is chiefly designed
      for output to a user's printer

Bzzzt! Wrong answer, I'm sorry, but thank you for playing! ;{>}

Acrobat was from the start designed as a way of displaying documents
across platforms without losing layout information, sort of an
application-level version of "Display Postscript." In this respect it
succeeds far better than WinHelp (I've yet to be able to open a WinHelp
file on an HP Unix workstation, while I can even read Inside Macintosh
volumes on an HP using Acrobat). It was designed as a form of "electronic
paper," for viewing and distributing documents without the use of a
printer.

What you use depends entirely upon your audience. If you expect your
audience to include non-Windows users (very likely, unless your company
produces software which is restricted solely to the Windowes market) it's
a mistake, IMHO, to produce it in WinHelp. Not only will you have to
include WinHelp software to view it (which the user will have to install)
but you'll run the risk of antagonizing some of them. I can't tell you how
often I've heard a non-Windows user complain, "But if I'd wanted a Windows
machine, I would have *bought* a Windows machine!" Yes, you can still
manage to hold on to those users, but their threshold for switching has
now been lowered, and you will most likely lose them to the best of your
competitors to avoid that particular trap.

For those users, Acrobat might be considered acceptable "neutral
territory."

Have fun,
Arlen

arlen -dot- p -dot- walker -at- jci -dot- com
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