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Certainly, the big immediate problem is the garbage documentation, the
"type the name in the NAME box" kind of thing.
But I think there is an important, but subtle, difference between the
goals of a manual and a help system. When I hit that F1 key, I have a
particular question I want answered. When I open the manual, I may have a
particular question (in which case I'm already unhappy, because the help
system didn't answer it, and if I see the same non-answer, I'm going to
be upset) or I may want to learn something.
The magic help system works like this:
I hit the button and my question is answered.
The magic manual works like this:
I, an ignorant but eager learner, read the book and become an expert.
Things have changed lately. The term "on-line documentation" is no longer
a synonym for "help system," and the manual may not be paper. But the
underlying goals are the same. Where I used to argue that we needed both
books and on-line help, I now argue that we need both high level
documentation and immediate help. Those needs may (in some situations)
be served by online documents, but they are different needs nevertheless.
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From: Robert Plamondon[SMTP:robert -at- PLAMONDON -dot- COM]
Sent: Thursday, October 17, 1996 11:03 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Re: Online Documentation. New! Improved
The problem is not that it's impossible to do good on-line documentation,
but that the flagship products have garbage-scow documentation, and
many people cheerfully salute the flag and emulate the garbage scow.
Sure, you can do really cool on-line documentation. But it's a
fallacy that on-line documentation is all that different from any
other kind of documentation. It has the same goals, the same
subject matter, and the same readers as a paper manual would have.