Replacing paper with online docs?

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

Bob Gembey observed: <<There is a clear trend developing
in software products to minimize the hard copy
documentation provided with a product, replacing it by on-
line versions.>>

In my experience, this is almost always a cost-savings
measure (printed manuals are expensive), and has little or
nothing to do with helping the product's user. I think online
help systems are--optimistically--about 10 years away from
being a really useful substitute for paper. I'd like to be proven
wrong, but IMHO, the technology is only barely adequate
right now, and the organisational support for producing
adequate help (time, staff, and money) is generally lacking.

<<Is it enough to just provide a search engine in addition to
the electronic index, or a tree-view to show the structure of
the documentation in addition to TOC's and introductory
sections?>>

No. Since that's a short answer, let me elaborate: never! <g>
The problem with search engines is that they lack context and
thus can't take the place of an index created by someone who
understands the manner in which people search for keywords;
most techwhirlers can produce a competent index with some
study and practice, but to produce a really good, helpful
index takes both (i) a pro with lots of experience and (ii) an
organisation willing to devote the time and money to support
this person. TOCs and tree views work the opposite way from
an index: they show the overall structure of the document,
whereas indexes point you to specific topics. You need both.

<<Are there changes we must make to the document
content and internal structure?>>

At a minimum, there are dozens of changes. Check out
William Horton's book "Designing and writing online
documentation" for an excellent overview. If I had to sum the
subject up in one sentence, and thereby do it a great injustice,
I'd say that printed manuals are for browsing, whereas online
help is for one-click access to fast, contextual solutions. If
you don't understand that on a visceral level, you can't write
really good help files (or manuals, for that matter). This is
also what's so frustrating about online help: a good design
should let you do the paper thing (browse) as well as find the
one unique topic you need to find immediately. There are few
good designs out there, and the software gets in the way more
than it helps us to achieve good designs.


--Geoff Hart @8^{)}     Pointe-Claire, Quebec
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca

"Patience comes to those who wait."--Anon.

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