RE: PDF vs. HTML

[Dan Emory <danemory@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 03:35 PM 3/22/00 -0500, MacDonald, Stephen wrote:
>
>
>I find the following a little over the top:
>
>>Those in the documentation business who let this happen now have to live
>>with the knowledge that they didn't stand up to the bean counters when it
>>counted, thus they don't like to hear anyone remind them of their
>>dereliction by bringing up the dirty little secret that printed books are
>>vastly superior.  
>>Dan Emory, Dan Emory & Associates
>
>If you assume that what's best for the customer moves the "bean counters"
>perhaps this makes sense, but I've never found it to be so.  Unless you can
>show where printed books equal more profit, the bean counters will happily
>show where printed books equal less profit.  They are only doing their job.
>
>The right place to make this argument is with whomever is charged with
>ensuring customer satisfaction, and you have to be ready to explain how
>you're going to establish that the research results applied in your case
>will generate the profit that offsets the cost of printed manuals.  It's
>great to quote research but if we can't turn that into more business from
>doing a better job for the customer, it doesn't matter.
>
>On the other hand, if you want to argue that it's simply the right thing to
>do for your customers, I'd say that's a worthy argument, but I doubt you'll
>get a sympathetic ear from the guys in charge of the money.
==================================================================
Of course, your profit-based arguments in favor of the sleaze factor can
also apply to the following:

1. Bug-ridden release software--the bean-counter says: "Let the customers
find the bugs, that way we can get to market faster and cheaper."

2. Charging exorbitantly for technical support--the bean counter says:
"We'll make technical support another profit center."

I could go on. The trouble with these arguments is that they don't hold up
in the long run. You can be assured that the pendulum will swing back toward
providing both on-line and printed documentation. When that happens, the
companies who did away with printed documentation will be in a catchup mode
that will cost them many times the "profits" they reaped by not supplying
printed docs.

Go into any bookstore that stocks computer books, and you'll find vast
numbers of printed books devoted to all the top-selling software products,
with typical prices in the $30-$60 range. Using your profit-based arguments,
you must conclude that the publishers and booksellers are making a bundle
off the fact that users need more than on-line documentation to effectively
use these popular products. Microsoft can get away with not producing
printed documentation for its products, because they can be certain the gap
will be eagerly filled by third-party publishers. But the vast majority of
software products are in niche markets that are not large enough to generate
sufficient revenue for such third-party publishing ventures. Look at
Neuberger's Mastering FrameMaker. He can't get any publisher or bookseller
to finance putting it back in print. So he's had to find some printer who'll
print a few copies on demand to fill a trickle of orders.

Small-to-medium sized companies with niche software products ought not to
adopt the Microsoft model that relies on third-party publishers to produce
printed documentation for their products, because it won't happen.

Don't get me wrong. Well-designed on-line docs have a role to play. But they
must be backed up by more comprehensive printed documentation when the
software product exceeds some minimum threshold of complexity.
     ====================
     | Nullius in Verba |
     ====================
Dan Emory, Dan Emory & Associates
FrameMaker/FrameMaker+SGML Document Design & Database Publishing
Voice/Fax: 949-722-8971 E-Mail: danemory@primenet.com
10044 Adams Ave. #208, Huntington Beach, CA 92646
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