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Subject:Re: The size of a programming manual From:"Ivie, Guy" <GuyI -at- CORPMAIL -dot- FOLLETT -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 7 Apr 1997 11:16:00 PDT
Pete,
Well, here are my thoughts...
1) Can you tell me why most companies ship perfect bound manuals instead
of
spiral-bound?
Perfect-binding is somewhat cheaper than spirals.
2) Any advice from turf-war veterans on how to say "this sucks" very
sweetly and with the minimum offense?
You have to consider the user's needs. Many times, manuals like this are
used in the user's lap, or on a crowded desktop next to a workstation.
The smaller size, spiral-bound, can be folded over so that only one page
is up. It will fit in the lap, and it can sit next to the workstation
without taking up a lot of space; in either place, the spiral binding
keeps it open to the desired page. It's also a lot easier to carry
around.
Do be prepared to state the difference in cost vs. the benefit. You may
not win this argument if there is a really big delta in price for this
particular project or with your particular printer.
3) Am I dreaming to think little old me can reorganize, redesign,
and copy edit 170 pages (in the 81/2x11 format) in 4 weeks?
I suspect you already know how you want to reorganize. If that's the
case, you just have to manipulate the existing file. Go minimal on the
design side; make it easy to implement. This isn't Adobe magazine, after
all. ;-) As for copy editing... guess that depends on how much
rewriting it really needs. However, I think it's within the realm of
possibility.
Good luck with it all.
Guy Ivie
GuyI -at- corpmail -dot- follett -dot- com
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