Re: Reformat PDF for online info./don't replace WinHelp!

["Mark X. Dempsey" <mxd2 -at- OSI -dot- COM>]

Geoff Hart wrote:
>
> Susana Rosende is <<...opting to make our pdf files available
> from our FTP site, and considering dropping HAT-created
> online help for an online manual>>
>
> Pardon my bluntness, but that's generally a very bad idea
> from the user's perspective. PDF currently doesn't directly
> support context-sensitive links to the correct page of the
> manual; you'll have to get your developers to do some
> programming to create links that open the correct help page
> when someone clicks the help button in a specific dialog box.
> (This isn't rocket science, but neither is it as elegant as the
> current WinHelp model, which provides this support directly
> and simply.)

The statement about PDF not providing easily-generated context-sensitive
help is true. About whether context-sensitive help is worth a hill of
beans...well, let's just say I disagree. I've never found a
context-sensitive help that was helpful. I'd even bet I'm not alone in
wishing to terminate a certain dancing paperclip...

A really good index is much more useful. PDF handles this, and
generating links for each index entry is easy, at least in FrameMaker.

>
> As well, if the PDF file is identical to the printed version of
> your manual, it will be very difficult to read and use on the
> computer screen. I've yet to see a PDF manual that was
> designed so that it worked well onscreen; most still must be
> printed, and that eliminates most of the advantage of having
> the manual available online (e.g., fast searches). It's certainly
> possible to produce a PDF manual that can be used easily
> online, but you're going to have to redesign it to fit on the
> screen, to use larger (thus more legible) fonts, and to include
> a useful index with hyperlinks to the correct pages (since the built-
> in search tools are inadequate, and will remain inadequate until
> someone develops a search tool that understands context).

OK, no comprendo Señor. Yes PDF is identical to print, but in my Acrobat
reader, I can change the screen resolution so text is as big or little
as I want to read. I can print a single page or a book. We've never had
a complaint about poor readability...but then most of our users have big
monitors too...

WinHelp, HTML help are *not cross-platform, either. It's probably better
to use them for PC-only apps, but I'd say avoid, e.g., Bristol Hyper
Help that promises UNIX-based winhelp.

>
> --Geoff Hart @8^{)}     Pointe-Claire, Quebec
> geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
>
> "Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from
> acquiring the deadening effect of a habit." -William Somerset Maugham
>

--
Regards,

-- mailto:Mark -dot- Dempsey -at- osi -dot- com
--
-- Mark Dempsey
-- Technical Publications
-- Objective Systems Integrators
-- 110 Woodmere, Folsom, CA 95630
-- 916.353.2400 x 4777

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