Re: HTML and PDF files

["Susan W. Gallagher" <sgallagher -at- EXPERSOFT -dot- COM>]

I said:
>> PDF preserves your formatting, yes. So it presents documents online
>> just as they would appear on paper. But online delivery is different
>> from paper delivery, so what works on paper does not necessarily
>> work well online.
>
And Stuart Burnfield asks:
>Would it be fair to say that, for documentation, PDF is better suited
>to online manuals than to online help?

Me again:
That would probably be a fair statement, although I'm not totally
convinced that it's the *ideal* solution for online documentation,
either. IMO, it would be fair to say the PDF is the appropriate
solution when you need to provide online documentation without the
additional support of paper-based delivery because users can print
a fully-functioning book (i.e., with valid TOC and index) as well
as access the book online.

Taking a book "all the way" online -- in HTML or WinHelp -- is
more appropriate when the online docs are backed up by paper docs.
Lots of users will want to print out the online docs and printing
from HTML or WinHelp produces a bunch of pages with no functional
entry points.

Sue Gallagher
sgallagher -at- expersoft -dot- com
     -- The _Guide_ is definitive.
        Reality is frequently inaccurate.

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