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Are Printed Manuals Dead?
Bantik asks: "I work for a software publisher, and there's a raging debate going on upstairs about whether or not we should continue providing printed manuals. I think that between a program's Help menu, documentation in PDF form on the program CD, and the online documentation on our Web site (HTML and PDF), we're fine. What do /.'ers think? Are printed manuals a thing of the past? And what major software vendors are going down the Paperless Path?" While some of my peers would just love to declare paper dead and a thing of the past, I feel that physical manuals are still very necessary. There's nothing like having a reference you can flip to and computers aren't common enough that there's one at every place you might find the time (or desire) to read. Thoughts?
How the hell could we say that paper manuals are dead? Just take a look at O'reilly! It pisses me off when I don't get decent documentation. I work in a computer lab, and am often frequented by morons. When I tell them to RTFM, and the manual is online they NEVER do it. If I can hand them a paper traditional manual they usually can work their way through the particular problem
My Palm III is froze up! Read the on-line help to resolve this problem.
I work at a sylvan testing center. We have the procedures manuals in both an electronic form, and as a paper form. What totally irks me is the fact that the corporate has been pushing to go over to all electronic format. However every single time I had gone to use the electronic format, I was unable to find what I needed. Part of the problem lies with the fact that you can't see the entire page on the screen at a time, so you have to reduce your scanning speed. The only way I could see something like that being in a DECENT electronic format is is you put it on a computer with a 21 inch monitor so you had the ability to see each page. The other thing is they made use of both a winhelp file, and also a format that used a linked up PDF format. I also remember playing several games that have had their manuals pdf'ed, and I also remember putting together a linux journal of different man pages, and howtos. The electronic format is good, but having a physical piece of paper with the information that you can highlight flip around, and more importantly w/ paper you don't have to flip back and forth between the application and the information.
See /usr/src/linux/Documentation/sysrq.txt of your Linux install.
~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ ~~~~~~~~~~
* What is the magic SysRQ key?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It is a 'magical' key combo you can hit which kernel will respond to
regardless of whatever else it is doing, unless it is completely locked up.
* How do I enable the magic SysRQ key?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You need to say "yes" to 'Magic SysRq key (CONFIG_MAGIC_SYSRQ)' when
configuring the kernel. This option is only available in 2.1.x or later
kernels.
* How do I use the magic SysRQ key?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On x86 - You press the key combo 'ALT-SysRQ-'. Note - Some
(older?) may not have a key labeled 'SysRQ'. The 'SysRQ' key is
also known as the 'Print Screen' key.
On SPARC - You press 'ALT-STOP-', I believe.
On PowerPC - You press 'ALT-Print Screen-'.
On other - If you know of the key combos for other architectures, please
let me know so I can add them to this section.
* What are the 'command' keys?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'r' - Turns off keyboard raw mode and sets it to XLATE.
'k' - Kills all programs on the current virtual console.
'b' - Will immediately reboot the system without syncing or unmounting
your disks.
'o' - Will shut your system off via APM (if configured and supported).
's' - Will attempt to sync all mounted filesystems.
'u' - Will attempt to remount all mounted filesystems read-only.
'p' - Will dump the current registers and flags to your console.
't' - Will dump a list of current tasks and their information to your
console.
'm' - Will dump current memory info to your console.
'0'-'9' - Sets the console log level, controlling which kernel messages
will be printed to your console. ('0', for example would make
it so that only emergency messages like PANICs or OOPSes would
make it to your console.)
'e' - Send a SIGTERM to all processes, except for init.
'i' - Send a SIGKILL to all processes, except for init.
'l' - Send a SIGKILL to all processes, INCLUDING init. (Your system
will be non-functional after this.)
* Okay, so what can I use them for?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well, un'R'aw is very handy when your X server or a svgalib program crashes.
sa'K' (system attention key) is useful when you want to exit a program
that will not let you switch consoles. (For example, X or a svgalib program.)
re'B'oot is good when you're unable to shut down. But you should also 'S'ync
and 'U'mount first.
'S'ync is great when your system is locked up, it allows you to sync your
disks and will certainly lessen the chance of data loss and fscking. Note
that the sync hasn't taken place until you see the "OK" and "Done" appear
on the screen. (If the kernel is really in strife, you may not ever get the
OK or Done message...)
'U'mount is basically useful in the same ways as 'S'ync. I generally 'S'ync,
'U'mount, then re'B'oot when my system locks. It's saved me many a fsck.
Again, the unmount (remount read-only) hasn't taken place until you see the
"OK" and "Done" message appear on the screen.
The loglevel'0'-'9' is useful when your console is being flooded with
kernel messages you do not want to see. Setting '0' will prevent all but
the most urgent kernel messages from reaching your console. (They will
still be logged if syslogd/klogd are alive, though.)
t'E'rm and k'I'll are useful if you have some sort of runaway process you
are unable to kill any other way, especially if it's spawning other
processes.
* Sometimes SysRQ seems to get 'stuck' after using it, what can I do?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That happens to me, also. I've found that tapping shift, alt, and control
on both sides of the keyboard, and hitting an invalid sysrq sequence again
will fix the problem. (ie, something like alt-sysrq-z). Switching to another
virtual console (ALT+Fn) and then back again should also help.
* I hit SysRQ, but nothing seems to happen, what's wrong?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There are some keyboards which do not support 'SysRQ', you can try running
'showkey -s' and pressing SysRQ or alt-SysRQ to see if it generates any
0x54 codes. If it doesn't, you may define the magic sysrq sequence to a
different key. Find the keycode with showkey, and change the define of
'#define SYSRQ_KEY 0x54' in [/usr/src/linux/]include/asm/keyboard.h to
the keycode of the key you wish to use, then recompile. Oh, and by the way,
you exit 'showkey' by not typing anything for ten seconds.
I remember the day I unpacked my Bell & Howell Apple ][+, which came with three or four full manuals on the operating system, BASIC, and so on. I spent the next three days reading them from cover to cover before I so much as plugged the box into the wall.
Then I remember when the new PCs came out. Documentation was an "introductory" booklet. Real Documentation was available for additional money, in nice three ring notebooks and a hard cardboard box.
Suddenly, stuff came out with "installation pamphlets" and online help only.
These days, the online "help" is usually weak, and you have to buy a book to get any real idea of what the hell the software/hardware/OS even does, never mind any advanced functionality.
THEN, to add insult to injury, the books are so badly indexed that you are lucky if you can find anything. As an ex technical writer, this really pisses me off. Indexing is critical...
All I want is proper documentation in a portable format, in which it is easy to locate the help I need.
Mark Edwards
Proof of Sanity Forged Upon Request
Some people just need a printed manual hand to just "get it" better.
Some people (such as myself) have a short attention span when it comes to reading stuff off of a computer screen.
Some people don't have the current technology to be able to bring it in the john if they wish (and hey, if it's really that horrible of a program they can always wipe their ass with the manual).
Fuck Ajit Pai
I very much belive that you should continue, maintaining a printed manual for your software. I'n todays hightech world, companies are constantly trying to lower productioncosts, but that rarely helps the consumers, since the company often maintains the same price. Just like i would suspect that the company mentioned here, will be charging the exact same thing for the software, whether or not a printed manual is included. When thats said i still belive that a manual should be included. Today a lot of things can fail, and what does it help to get some software and a manual on a CD, if you fore some reason can't read the CD or install the helpfiles, to read that you needed some special thing or whatever. And then again, people feel they get more for the meoney, when they get a nice fat printed manual(which is also the truth), and nothing beats the feeling of opening a box of software you just paid big $ for, and then pull out a great printed manual. Try to imagine, opening a box of software that you just paid $2000 for, to find out, that you paid this much money to get a cheesy CD-Rom? No wwho do you think, will be the happiest customer, and the one most likely to buy the next version of your software? So, include a printed manual. :)
Help should be placed in logical places. Technical, man-page style documentation should probably be online since you just need quick reference. However, it is sometimes nice to have overviews on paper so that you can remember syntax, yet not have a 3" thick bundle of paper.
The flip-side of the coin to is make sure the user has enough documentation to get started. It can be hard to find the appropriate pdf or help system if you are new to a program. Another instance of this are all the READMEs that tell you how to ungzip the distribution. Of course, the README is already _inside_ the gzip, so....
"Hello, tech support"
"Hi, I forgot my password. My username is bjk4"
"Ok, I just emailed you your password. It should get to you in a minute."
"Thanks."
-B
I absolutely HATE it when I get a program or OS with no damn manual, or some piece of crap manual so useless I'm compelled to buy the wizz-bang book on that program from the same damn company for an additional $50.00 (damn your black heart, Bill Gates!).
When I pay good money for software I want a manual. Why?
1: Online help is meaningless if the computer or program does not work.
2: You ever try to write in corrections or notes in the margings of a help file?
3: "Avery Flags", get them, use them, love them.
The proper place to get rid of paper in the office is all those dimwits printing twenty slightly dufferent copies of the same damn thing trying to get it "just right", or this pinheads who print something and then FAX it!
Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
Really well-indexed HTML is great, too.
PDF is obnoxious: its pretend-paper output and its enforcement of author-misunderstanding of what my eyes need, on an intrinsically-electronic medium do me a great disservice. The only way I am willing to deal with PDF is after I've already printed it out on dead trees -- and then I'll hate you for forcing me to go through that extra step.
"My opinions are my own, and I've got *lots* of them!"
A hyperlinked manual is certainly useful. But I will continue to want paper. I even print long man pages when I need them. The better print quality of a manual is easier on the eyes, and just plain more comfortable to hold. It's also easier to browse; you just can't "flip thorugh" a computer screen.
Digital displays won't make serious inroads into printed products until DPI reaches *at least* 300, and there will be a serious demand for paper just on visual quality alone until at least 600dpi. ANd even then, there will be a market for paper.
hawk, who will give up printed manuals when you pry them from his cold dead fingers
When I buy a program, I tend to think I'm paying for manual, box, and customer support. I don't use customer support (looking for help on the net is much more efficient) so that's not a reason to buy stuff. I also make backups of the original media so I can archive the media in a secure place and use the expendable copies. That's why the media itself isn't worth the money, either, so only packaging and manuals remain. I collect the boxes and read the manuals so even if I could get the software for free (it's always available online - somewhere), I'd rather buy the original, so I have docs and box. Reading the manual is often necessary, at least beneficial since you can read about things that are not "intuitive" to figure out, so having access to the docs is important enough for me to buy the software I use. And if some piece of software is so simple that you don't need a manual, then it's an obvious program that should be part of the OS, not a stand-alone package that you have to pay for extra. Even easy-to-use applications like games make use of manuals, and if it's so easy that there's no need for a manual, then add a strategy guide and walk-through. And some other stuff, cool gimmicks, something you can only get by buying the originals. That rewards legit customers instead of punishing them when they buy copy-protected software. Since software distribution is free over the Internet, and commercial software you buy is often restricted in many ways, there should be a real incentive to buy the originals and provide things that can't be downloaded for free. Think about it.
-- Eavy (: Linux Is Not UniX
They're good for a couple of things.... ;)
a. Bathroom reading material until I put a hacked i-opener in there
b. Firestarters... I mean, come on lighter fluid isn't always the best...
-MoOsEb0y
Printed manuals are worth $43.
I arrive at that figure because around here "Official" RedHat sells for U$52. People who know all about cheap bytes still walk in and buy it. Note that this is NOT north america and the telephone support available to Us residents is less than useless at U$1 per minute phone rates.
That means they are either contributing to the "RedHat Charity" or they pay the extra money for those dead trees.
PS : The unacounted dollars are shiping on the CD.
--= Isn't it surprising how badly I spell ?
Speaking about the HTML access.. what about people who dont in fact have web access? That limits one of the sources.
--
Scott Miga
suprax@linux.com
SO many times I've read a manual or book in which I have the GUSHING URGE to just GREP the book and find what page information is on. At that, provide PDF *AND* ASCII versions of the documentation, ASCII so UNIX commands such as "grep" become useful. As long as it's not too big of a disk-space concern (on the floppy or CD) nobody who cares about the ASCII version will bother having it.
the real at&t mix
it's hard to beat libc.info, though. If you've got access to a GNU system with the info file for glibc installed, run info libc, and poke around. I found the socket programming stuff in there _very_ useful :) (along with ip(7), udp(7), and tcp(7)). GNU info is a great format for online documentation. I don't know why they don't use HTML, though. It doesn't seem to provide much that HTML can't, except for a more convenient naming scheme for pages.
#define X(x,y) x##y
#define X(x,y) x##y
Peter Cordes ; e-mail: X(peter@cordes ,
I'm curious to see how many people here use a lot of documentation when using Linux/[insert your favorite open source operating system here]. It seems to me that we've been slowly weened on man pages and online documentation, especially since most distributions include most of their documentation on the cd's they ship with.
If we expect so much printed documentation from big software houses, why don't we get good manuals with our distributions?
I'm not really complaining since I do mostly net installs of most linux boxen, I have just noticed that I very rarely have any paper books in front of me for any of my software packages, primarily because I use open source packages. The books I do use are third party books, like Advanced Perl programming etc.
Well... unless you consider a big pile of loose, single-sided pages professional, I'd wonder about where the professional BINDING is.
Some of the O'Reilly books have nice bindings that allow them to lie flat, which is handy, but I'd even give that up if I didn't have to worry about the pages falling out, and being held in only by a frickin' alligator clip.
It's not _that_ hard to take a properly typeset document (e.g. LaTeX) and output ascii, html, pdf and paper. I'll take 'em all, please.
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
I think that he meant that you must have some other bathroom reading material other than the manual.
God, just imagine how well a cheap, waterproof xterm would sell for bathroom computer geeks. But barring that, I keep books in there too.
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
What I mean is, I want a professionally set up and printed manual. I don't want to print it myself. Sure, TeX is fine for typesetting in the computer, and it (and PDF and HTML and ASCII) are all perfectly good for lookin' at stuff on screen.
;)
But I don't like any of them for output, at least when I'm printing something out that's rather like a book. When I want a book, I'll take something that was printed on an offset press, cut and bound.
And what I meant by double-sided was that relatively few people have printers capable of outputting double-sided pages without going through a lot more work yourself. Duplex printing is usually reserved for multi-thousand-dollar office printers.
So just realize that what I'm complaining about is that home printing technology is nowhere near as good as it needs to be for me to seriously consider printing up documentation from electronic files. I still want electronic files, sure, but I also want a manual that was printed professionally.
(besides, I do layout for a living, so it helps out my profession
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
Yes it can in some things but reading a good ref-book is what it is all about.
Don't get me wrong, I like paper manuals. I use them all day long, HOWEVER they are a pain in the arse in any ISO9000, etc. situation.
I spend FAR more time trying to keeps my working ICDs up to date with new changes than I should.
Give me PDF! If I want a hard copy I can print just what I want. (or the whole thing, or NOTHING.)
Between PDF and HTML you are covered.
dv
"There's no secret. You just press the accelerator to the floor and keep turning left." -- Bill Vukovich
I primarily use reference manuals at the moment, and for those I have in both versions (currently some O'Reilly books and the http://photo.net guide) it is great to look for some topic in the hypertext version and then locate it in the paper version. Much much faster than dealing with indexes.
I would say that the reference material should be printed in a high-durable version (see to O'Reilly again) along with both HTML and PDF versions on the media.
--
--
Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen "...and...Tubular Bells!"
I need printed docs. I don't just use computers when I am at the computer, I want to read all the time. Before bed, I lie there and read, while I wait in the car for someone I read, while I watch TV I read. I always have something to read with me.
If I am trying to learn a new program, and I do not have printed docs all ready, I will normally go buy a book or two, and print out all the docs I can find for it. Many times have I pissed off all my co-workers because I printed out a 800+ page doc.
I love to read. I waste tons of paper. I wish there was a better way, but if I want to read the man pages for Postfix while I take a dump, what other choice do I have but to print them out? When I was setting up a new VPN system, I was overjoyed to find that there was a book with all the IPSec RFCs printed out and indexed. The world would be a better place with more books like that.
The world would be a better place with more books.
Elwood
What level of expertise are your manuals? For example, I never looked at manual for Windows or Microsoft Word back in my Windows days because they are such intuitive, easy-to-use programs. However, at the same time, I could easily see a disaster occuring if Cisco decided to do this. Some of their reference libraries are several volumes and total 2-3 feet of printed material each. Killing them would not be a good idea. Remember two things - this printed manuals are far, far easier to search quickly through (even with no word/regex search, it's just a lot easier to browse through one and find things than with a manpage), and two, it is uncomfortable to read on a computer for extended periods of time.
So, if your company makes mice, by all means, distribute a readme.txt file and be done with it. However, if they make Inverted Confustication Delivery Systems with added Defrillication Modules, then please continue to distribute hardcopy documentation.
--
I think there is a world market for maybe five personal web logs.
Yes, but this is part of an IDE, so you get a list of recent queries and search locations, the output goes to a pane, and you can double-click an output line to load the file into the editor and put the cursor on that line.
Emacs/XEmacs can do the same thing, though without the recent lists (something that would really be quite useful).
Find yourself a relatively cheap notebook that has a 14" active matrix 1024x768 screen (or better), a decent enough HD, and can be inexpensively upgraded to 128megs RAM. I sit my Toshiba Satellite 2545XCDT on my kitchen table and do the bulk of my reading there, then move to my desktop machine when I need heavy firepower. The combo works well. Makes a nice front-end for my Linux server, too. (Not that I wouldn't mind a properly equipped Dell Inspiron 7500 with its 15.4" 1280x1024 res screen, but they are a tad expensive...)
-- Michael
I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
"Here's your software, hardware, source code, whatever, you need expensive display hardware if you want to be able to read about it for more than a few minutes at a time, sorry about that, chief."
If hardware (including stuff like VCR's) came with a service manual with every unit shipped, they could print them more cheaply per unit because of volume, making it possible to include it in the price of the unit without increasing the price of the unit too horribly, which would increase your chances of fixing that hardware or finding someone who could take your service manual and do it for you.
Of course nowadays they just want to sell you something that you'll have to buy a new one of in a couple of years.
It's the same with commercial software.
Earlier versions of DOS and Windows came with bigger books and smaller price tags, then the software got bigger and more complicated, the manuals skimpier and more comic book like, the price higher, and the expense of aftermarket documentation necessary to get full value out of the software increased.
The less you sell to a knowledgeable minority and the more to the general public, the easier it is to screw the customer.
I'm going to go lie down and take slow, deep breaths now.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
Does anybody remember 4PRINT?
4PRINT was a pretty nifty utility that I used to use back in my BBS days. It was quite similar to enscript/a2ps in that it took a text file and printed several pages worth of text onto a single peice of paper.
The really neat thing about 4PRINT, however, was its usefulness for printing documentation. You would print a stack of paper and then go to your printer and flip/rotate the sheets and then go back to 4PRINT and tell it to continue. When you were done, you had this neat little booklet that you could staple together. 4PRINT would generate these cool cover pages that had the title of the book (specified by the user) done up in ANSI graphics lettering (ala BBS style).
I was searching through my old room at my parent's house the other day and found a drawer filled with stacks of 4PRINT'ed documentation for everything from the RemoteAccess BBS to GoldED (still around!!!) and BinkleyTerm.
ahhhh the memories
ToiletDuk (58% Slashdot Pure)
Not for me! /dev/null
All things equal, I will purchase the product with the printed manual over a product with only electronic manuals
Trees?
Who cares. They are a renewable resource, like corn, which is planted every years according to our needs.
eco-hysteria --->
JLK
Running with Linux for over 20 years!
Any manual worth its weight in paper will have a very comprehensive index in the back, and a good table of contents at the front.
I've used O'Reilly books for years (especially their Perl and Java books) and have always been able to find what I was looking for using the paper book with the index at the back *MUCH* faster than I was able to find something using online documentation and a "search" function.
At the same time, there are occasions when I'm simply too lazy to get out of my desk chair, walk across the office or over to the bookshelf in the living room and get the book. For quickies, online documentation is perfect (see also man pages).
I wonder what would be so difficult about producing documentation both in PDF and in printed form? Several times now, we've ended up putting the PDF docs for a product we use on a fileserver for people to look at, and also printed a copy (on a duplexing printer =) ) and had it bound at Kinko's so that we'd have both options available. Why can't publishers print it for us? We'd gladly pay the premium.
And yes, I know my homepage is broken.
I used to think printing on on Unix sucked. Then I figured it out. Printing on Unix *does* suck. Like a Kirby.
I work for a very large retail chain ( Think yellow tag ), and we have been running a test. We are selling Norton A/V with the manuals for $39.99, and without the manual ( but with a .PDF version on the CD ) for $19.99. People are going with the cheaper one at an amazing rate, I doubt that we have even sold 10 of the one with the printed manual this month, and we have sold ~600 of the .PDF one.
It seems as if this is the way that everyone is going, and it has the support of retail and consumers, so it will be the future.
'nuff said. :)
Tell those cheap marketing folks "upstairs" that at the very least installation and quickstart guides must be provided in print, and that they must at least sell printed versions of all documnetation, especially that boring, repetitive and bulky "reference" stuff.
PDF documentation is nice to have, especially if it's searchable, indexed, and linked. It's good to be able to print a book yourself if the prnted copy has walked away. But a stack of 8.5"x11" or A4 printouts in a binder or held together with a big paperclip is a horrible substitute for a bound book. And reading docs onscreen is nice unless you're trrying to get work done and read the docs at the same time. Clicking back and forth gets tedious quickly.
HTML docs and context-sensitive help are nice for some things. But again, they are used differently from a nice book. Sometimes you just need a book. This will change when large-format high-resolution (>200 dpi) e-book readers become available, but until then the rule should be: if you have enough documentation to make a 200-page book, you must offer it as a 200-page book.
Marketing folks will argue that since you've made the sale, it doesn't matter what format the docs are in, because you've already won the customer. But that's not true. Software with awkward, inaccessible documentation makes for unhappy, frustrated users, and when the product comes up for re-evaluation 18 months later, that frustration gets expressed in a desire to work with something "less awkward".
You can have the best product on the market, but if your documentation is frustrating to work with, then your product is frustrating to work with.
Ask your company's inside-sales people, who deal with current customers. Customers tell them what they think of CD-only documnentation. And it's not nice.
Printed manuals are essential. They allow me to review documentation when I don't have access to the computer or program. I could be on a plane, the computer could be dead or I might just not like reading things online.
I'm sure everyone will agree that a real book is far easier to read than a monitor. The insignificant cost of providing a manual to you customers makes up for far more than it's cost in time and effort
You don't exist. Go away. --SysVinit Halt
Tree says, "No printed manual! Digital documentation better!"
But then again, Trees might be a bit biased on the topic.
Know what I like about atheists? I've yet to meet one that believes God is on their side.
I never use online docs, as I find them too slow, inefficent, difficult to browse and find what you want, and unpleasant to look at and use. IMO it gives a very bad impression of commercial software for it not to be provided with printed docs.
www.openebook.org is basically a XHTML markup with the inclusion of the Dublin Core content markup for cataloging. It also includes different 'tours' of the book as well as the standard 'spine'. This is a much better solution than simple HTML but at least HTML is better than PDF. I am a bit biased here I I own a Rocket eBook wich handles text and HTML rather easily but you have to strip a document out of PDF before you can read it.
PDF is great if you don't think a book/document should be much more then a electronic duplication of a paper book. Sure you can search it and annotate it but hand held devices would have to have too big of a screen to really use a PDF well. Even then what if you want a bit bigger (or smaller) font? That can't be done with a PDF without panning the resulting image. And making it smaller would just waist screen space and not actually give you more content on a page.
Basically I think we need to rescue documents and Books from PDF. It is basically like a long term print buffer you can keep going back to until you give up in frustration and print the damn thing out. I have a very nice 19 inch monitor with a high refresh rate yet I would rather read something on my little 3.5 ich by 4 inch 106 dpi B&W wide viewing angle, back lit LCD of my Rocket eBook. It is just that much more comfortable. It is hard to hold a 19 inch monitor in one hand and move it around, towards, and away from you etc...
Well let me know when that eBook that can magically changes size appears.
Actually we should ditch PDF. It is great if you want to deliver a printed document to a user without actually bothering to print it but as a standard way of storing a document, it sucks. It is basically saying that the most logical format is in pages. Gee that was great when the only way to view a document was on paper. Now we are starting to get devices, every thing from a palm to a PC that might want to view, search, reference a document and PDF is just not up to the job.
PDF is a Preprinted Document File. Their really isn't much that is portable about it. The page is an artifact of printing not of a document. And if you are going to make the 'well how do we reference material' argument then remember that court documents and the bible are not referenced by page number. That is because pages are an artifact of printing and formatting and are not consistent from one formatting to another.
Go have a look at: www.openebook.org
One point that I haven't seen raised here is the QUALITY of the printed doc in question... I pretty much have felt that M$'s docs lately sucked anyway, so I wasn't sorry to see them go. GOOD docs that are in PAPER form are INDESPENSIBLE. I don't care what the software manu-s do, if they simply jam a paper manual into a PDF file, it is just not as useful. So I truly believe the question of electronic vs printed is quite dependent upon the product in question. If the manufacturer is simply unable to adequately document their product, any manual (printed or not) is WORTHLESS, and I could care less if they include it. Unfortunately, more and more companies are being this "dumb"; they realize that consumers aren't REQUIRING them to properly document their warez.... so fuck the consumer. If this wasn't true, Microsoft would have far smaller sales figures (c'mon, they make a LOT of technical products -- and not ONE good manual!)
The other thing that really upsets me is this idiotic belief that electronic manuals need to take the form of a "virtual" paper book. Isn't it kinda the reason that "virtual" is so nice???? That you can do things OUTSIDE of reality in the virtual world? I can't even begin to count how many times I have gotten PDF (or HTML) manuals that aren't hyperlinked. WHAT THE HELL USE IS THAT? In paper manuals, I can understand how bulky it would be to EXHAUSTIVELY counter-reference everything... but electronically this isn't an issue. Also, last I checked, I can't PRINT an animation on a piece of paper (outside of the Cracker Jack box illusions). How many electronic docs have you seen where they SHOW you what needs to be done? I mourn the passing of Apple's Guide help software... simply the BEST e-help yet invented. It could actually WALK YOU THROUGH steps. That is what ONLINE docs need to do... unfortunately they don't. Also, it is so aggravating to get a PDF file that has 1" margins on the top and sides and is formatted like a PAGE! Give me one file for printing and one for online viewing -- the sad thing is Adobe allows for this in PDF, just nobody uses it. Until the software companies "re-invent", or actually INVENT, a very good way to get detailed information to the user in an effective format, paper manuals aren't going anywhere. Can anyone say "multimedia"? And let me tell you, the dancing paper clip just isn't "a very good way". I have seen users SCREAM at the damn little thing; it is so "cute" as it sits there SMUGLY, not imparting to the users the info they desparately need.
Finally, a final nail in the paper book coffin WOULD be the fact that electronic docs are updated and expanded... yet I have NOT found a single online help repository where I actually said "Wow, that was even better than the manual". (Okay, so this is really still part of GIGO --Garbage In, Garbage Out). And more times than not, the companies are just so HAPPY to get the damn warez out that they don't even spend the time updating and expanding said help resources -- usually because they are too busy deciding how they are going to get your next $100. I mean, if you look at the proliferation of the "help" sites for computers, it is OBVIOUS that the computer industry is doing a TERRIBLE job of documenting their problems themselves. How many times have you seen something posted on a website about a bug a month before the manufacturer gets around to posting a Library article or update? Even the BSD and Linux info repositories are incomplete; I understand that much of the work is done by volunteers, but the software is only as good as its documentation.
Before companies should get off the hook of providing good manuals, users should agree that:
1. The company is capable of THOROUGHLY documenting product features and provides good troubleshooting information.
2. The company is ABLE to transform such information into adequate paper form. They don't have to, but the idea is that I can get a paper manual if I want one.
3. The company has spent the time and money to transform such information into an active and accurate website that is easy to navigate and is well organized.
4. The company has implemented an online help facility that interacts with the product and user in a context-sensitive way, answering questions as well as expanding knowledge. The expansion of knowledge is important... when I read a book, I am often able to expand what I know because I come across a chapter detailing features I was unaware of. If the help system merely "responds" to my queries, I may never know the right question to ask. Much like the Catch 22 of how a dictionary can't really help you to spell a word -- if you can't spell it, you probably won't find it in a dictionary that is organized by spelling.
5. The company then REDUCES the price of the product accordingly, passing the savings of both the reduction in packaging and lack of printing costs to the consumer. At one time, the argument went that software costs SOOO much because of packaging and documentation. In this day and age, a $1 CD and jewelcase hardly justifies the cost of Microsoft Office 2000.
6. The electronic documentation is accurate, cross-platform (TOTALLY!!!), well cross-referenced, informative, and formatted to COMPLEMENT the virtual experience.
But none of this will happen... as user's, we'll simply be fed what corporate wants to feed us.
Scott
"Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid."
I've always learnt something better when I've had somekind of printed material. I don't like having to sit infront of my box and read the manual on something all the time. Since I'm still in school, I spend a lot of time away from my computer and can't read it until I get home. Having the printed documentation helps. But thats just me...
~centurion
I work in a company where we are using our own product to create documentation. I (and the rest of the documentation team) would love to put together a printed manual, since our product can;t yet produce high-quality printed output. The engineering managers, to a person, have given this idea the thimbs down. "Our users won't need a printed manual!"
One of these managers later demanded a printed copy of our documentation to hand to a new employee... Why? "Oh, well, it's hard to read on screen." They wouldn't give us the resources to do a print-freindly version, nor the engineering resources to make the product produce better printed output, and on top of all that, they expect us to waste time printing out the document so it's handy for new engineers.
And people wonder why documentation is so crummy...
They Just Don't Get It.
HTML is only easily searchable if your doc is stored in one big HTML document! AFAIK none of the popular browsers can search multiple HTML documents in any reasonable fashion.
PDF, for all its faults, is at least searchable, and handles large documents much better than HTML does.
Please give me docs that I can sit down with outside and leaf through at my leisure, with no need to be anywhere near a computer.
And please give me online docs in html format (at minimum!) - no PDF or postscript please, unless this is also accomanied by html.
By far the most important version is the online, hypertext, searchable version. Whenever there's a tradeoff to be made for cost reasons, favor the online docs.
On the other hand, when I pay big money for a software product I *expect* printed docs and if I don't get them I probably won't be back a second time.
--
Life's a bitch but somebody's gotta do it.
The reality is that they want to save money. It costs serious money to write, edit, design and print high quality manuals.
I recently bought a retail copy of Microsoft Office 2000 and it had no manuals. This is not a cheap software package. I felt I had been ripped off (again) by Microsoft.
Help files and PDF files are not a substitute for printed documentation. You can't do high quality graphics and book design when the output device is a CRT. A two-dimensional display is not an adequate substitute for a book.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
Back when I first got Red Hat 5.1, I used to read the manual on the can all the time. It was so nerdy.
Switch the . and the @ to email me.
I refer to my Linux books and my printer manual and other books all the time, to remember things like what cartridges my printer takes and how to do certain things. A printed book still works even when you've fried your X server or removed /etc. Although online resources are convenient and useful, books still have a place.
Switch the . and the @ to email me.
I see it now:
1. I buy the latest greatest backup system,
2. go through the backup precedures,
3. have an hard disk failure, and
4. find a little card that says, "please refer to the documentation included in the help menu."
Can we say, "blarrrrr" ?
There are some areas such as system recovery and hardware devices that I still need in hard-copy form. Granted, however, that I usually have more than one computer at hand.
Just my $0.02 worth.
---
Sig Return: 204 No Content
Good examples of what I find useful are the O'Reilly "In A Nutshell" books, the O'Reilly main series, the "For Dummies", and the Waite Group's "How-To" books. Those generally present a lot of information, but in a logical, useful way. They do leave out less important detail. The on-line documentation should then document every last bit.
I'm still personally a huge fan of printed documentation. Help systems still clutter up the interface in a huge way... Hit help, 1/3 of the screen gets covered by the help window. Some programs make the help separate programs that can end up behind the program that you need help in, so you need to constantly flip back and forth between the help window and the application window if you can't remember all the steps required to do whatever it is you're doing. Compare that to reading the index of a book, spending 15 seconds flipping to the correct page, laying the book next to the keyboard so you can type and read at the same time...
:).
That, plus sometimes, if i'm really interested, i'll read the manual at places besides the computer... like on the train, on the couch, etc... Hauling around a laptop is way too cludgy if all you want to do is read a book. You can't really dog ear pages in online references, nor can you apply yellow highlighter to your screen (unless you are able to scroll the window so what you wanted highlighted lines up perfectly with where it was when you actually drew across the screen with the marker at some previous point... but even then, you'll end up with yellow streaks across the screen
Lastly, with PDF documentation, 95% of the work is already done, in the writing and typesetting of the manual. All that needs to be done is the actual printing. Even for a large manual, that's still really only $2 or $3 extra for the documentation in printed form. That makes it cheaper for them to distibute the manual than it is for you to print a whole 200 page manual to an inkjet or laser printer.
As a last point, notice that software prices stay the same despite the lack of manuals these days... No matter what the justifications that programmers, QA, or engineers point out, it's all probably spurred by CFO's somewhere going "how can we earn just a few more dollars per box shipped? That manual can go!"
Online docs are good for some things but not EVERYTHING! I like to read on my commute into work. I have an hour train ride each way and it's a lot nicer to read a manual than a help screen.
--ralphieboy
So download another PDF viewer, it is an open standard.
I'm a loner Dottie, a Rebel.
If you've ever had a computer/OS/ect not work, you know the advantage of having a printed manual. If you're stuck in a new OS on a new system that you have no clue as how to get it running do you want the box to say "We saved paper by only providing an on-line manual." I really doubt you do. Besides not needing any electronics to use, printed manuals are user friendly. Anyone with properly working eyes and literacy can use a book, the same can't be said for on-line manuals.
I'm a loner Dottie, a Rebel.
A for instance:
Let's say that you have a new computer. This new computer won't start up. If this is a home computer (i.e. the only PC in a house) no amount of online / PDF documentation will fix your problem if you can't view them. Printed manuals are a necessity, if only to assist people when their computers are unavailable.
"God is Dead"
--Nietzsche
"Nietzsche is Dead"
"God is Dead"
--Nietzsche
"Nietzsche is Dead"
--God
When I decided to learn Perl, I stumbled across Perl 5 By Example, http://www.codebits.com/p5be/. The online version pays for itself by advertising. I contemplated purchasing a hardcopy of the book, or possibly of a different Perl book. Then I considered my situation.
I am always on the go, I program from a half dozen different terminals in the course of a month. Any reference books I have access to, generally sit on a shelf at home, or a shelf at work, and I don't tend to carry a library on my back. But every computer I access has access to the internet, so the only way to have a book be conveniently accessible is to have it online.
Some people talk about cost of printing, and environmental issues, and cheaper distribution in digital form, but while these are important, they are not my primary concern. Internet based references have recently become more accessible than physical references, especially for highly mobile people such as myself.
One moderate advantage of manuals is the ability to jot notes on the margins.
I'm not a big fan of this practice in many situations, but sometimes it can be a lifesaver. A reference manual that's been annotated for your particular system(s) and setup(s) can be a lifesaver that *grows* in value with use.
Try doing that on a CD-ROM. There are annotation schemes that write to the HDD, but they don't 'follow the CD' from computer to computer. It's easy to write an efficient, informative note when you know the ref text will be right there beside it.
If you can go to bed, knowing you did a valuable thing today, you're very lucky. If you can't... it's not bedtime
For games, I don't think there's any question. You need the printed manual. In many cases your machine is locked down with the running game paused when you need to refer to the manual. Reading a PDF or other online document would mean quitting out of the game. And who wants to do that? If you took the time to refer to the manual at that point in the game, you're obviously too into it to quit out then.
And even if you can ALT-TAB out, do you really want to try that in 'doze and risk crashing your game, or at least slowing it down when you alt-tab back? I couldn't begin to count the number of times I paused Baldur's Gate to refer to the manual for some statistical or other data, for example. Having to alt-tab to a web browser would have made playing the game suck, and caused me to have to reboot at least twice as often as I otherwise would have had to.
Printed manuals are most certianly alive.. While the online documentation is usualy more current.. when I am working a problem there is nothing better then to be able to flip threw a book and find the answer or read up on it.. usually the online books/docs have crappy search capabilities.. they're browsing software (even Acrobat) is just ok. which usually means I can find what I want from card copy much faster and with more precision.. *shrug*
--Hired Net Grunt
Actually, it's a three question poll:
Should today's software includes printed manuals?
1. yes
2. no
3. Who reads the manuals?
The problem with info pages compared to man pages isn't really the format - it's the default reader puts most people off (the cmd-line info feels just like an ancient version of emacs, with the attendant arcane key-bindings). Texinfo itself was quite a good idea, producing pretty printed manuals and online help from the same document source.
If you have GNOME installed, try typing toc:info into the Location bar of gnome-help-browser. (KDE has similar functionality, type info:(dir) in the location bar of KDE Help). Info pages are relatively pleasant to read in this format.
Choice of masters is not freedom.
>I'm sure everyone will agree that a real book is far easier to read than a monitor.
Not for me. I've read about a hundred full books (from gutenberg) online and it's just as easy for me as reading paper books and maybe even a little easier (don't have to look all around the place for it). The =ONLY= problem with online books for me is that you can't take it to subway, but that should be taken care of eventually with e-books and all that.
-- ATTENTION: do not read this sig. It doesn't say much.
Even Microsoft has greatly reduced the manuals that they provide nowadays. Programs that used to be distributed in huge boxes are no longer distributed that way. Especially OEM software, which in many cases relies almost exclusively on online documentation.
I am responsible for software production and distribution at General Motors, and we are moving our release notes from paper to paperless. That is the general direction for GM anyway.
I don't think paper manuals are really a necessity. I personally don't use them, instead I always look on the CD for documentation in *preferrably* HTML format, but PDF is ok, too.
I like HTML because it fast, easily searchable, and viewable by standard Web browsing software, which virtually every computer already has installed nowadays.
My journal has hot
YOU CAN SCRIBBLE ON IT.
You can highlight, you can underline, you can make notes in the margins, you can note where the tech pubs dudes fscked up... you can put those little flourescent sticky tabs on the critical sections and scribble what they are on the tabs, thus producing over time a crude but bloody effective search engine...
As long as you can still print the HTML/PDF/Word doc/whatever, geeks will continue to do so, for this very reason... and, of course, the fact that it's portable and not power-dependent, and just plain easier to read. But the scribble factor is quite large... and often overlooked.
--
Nuts on modding up the AC's. Make them login.
Online manuals are fine for doing quick lookups on fuctions, options, etc... but when it comes to sitting down and reading a manual to learn a new program reading the whole thing on a computer screen is the pits. If I was evaluating several different programs to meet a certain need printed manuals would weigh very heavy into the decision.
One benefit I haven't seen here is that a well done printed manual is a good inducemnt to get a customer to buy your software package. With these days of the low cost CD ROM burner, piracy is soooo easy, and with the docs online, the user is ready to go. A top notch 500 page printed manual available only when you buy the software really is a significant value-add.
I really prefer paper manuals, but most of them suck, including ones you have to pay for, like MS's resource kits. So I've got this great idea ... subcontract! If we had docs for MS products like we do for Linux, even if we had to pay for 'em, the world would be an easier place to deal with.
The reason is simple: most software packages are far too complex to document completely on paper so why bother?
Basically there are two ways you can use a manual:
- as a tutorial.
- as a reference.
A tutorial should cover all major ways of using a package. Typically you don't proceed through a tutorial linearly but you pick topics that interest you in the order that is convenient for you.
A reference should be complete and easy accessible. Those requirements cannot be fullfilled by a paper manual (at least not without increasing the price of the software package significantly: thick manuals are expensive).
Both ways of using a manual can be done using online manuals. For tutorials I prefer online because it is easier to use (examples you can play with, animations, search). Also it is possible to provide references to other relevant portions of the tutorial. Take the java tutorial as an example. It is far too large to print in one book (the swing tutorial alone is hundreds of pages) yet it is very desirable to keep it complete (not to mention up to date). I don't think many people can claim to have read it completely. Given the choice I would alway prefer the online version since the best feature of the tutorial is being able to find documentation on all related issues real quick.
The same goes for references. Lets take the java API as an example. I wouldn't care for a 1000 page dump on paper of the Java API documentation. I know there are many expensive books that provide exactly that (I don't own any) so apparently there are people who think differently about this. However I wouldn't want a software company charge me for a thick (expensive) manual I won't use anyway.
An online version is so much better (links to related classes, links to relevant portions of the tutorial and vice versa, search facility).
Most software packages these days only ship with some very basic paper documentation (installation, how to get started, how to browse the online documentation). Having the installation instructions on paper can be handy but a readme file is ok for me too. Since I know how to insert a cdrom and find the readme, the dead trees are wasted on me. But I suppose it looks nice to ship some paper along with the cd.
I no longer judge a software package on the paper documentation but on the quality and accessibility of the online documentation. PDFs and postscript files are bad in my opinion (limited or no interactivity). Winhelp or HTML is much better. I mention Winhelp because that has search built into it while with HTML the searchpages have to be generated statically (limiting their usefullness).
But even the use of offline documentation is limited. In the case of Java I usually refer to the documentation at javasoft since that is the most up to date version.
Jilles
I have lived and worked in two markets where the only sane way to get to work was public transit. I demand paper manuals from all my vendors and read them on the train ride to and from work. I would be distressed if a vendor I worked with said that I would have to print out the manuals myself in order to read them. With my job putting me on-call so often, I don't have the time to read manuals anywhere else.
One thing that has always ticked me off about QNX is that no paper manual was provided. Using the CD for help is fine for somethings, but I like having a printed copy for reference when I'm coding unfamiliar functions.
clancey
But the books that you refer to - that you find useful? Were the shipped with the software, or were they written by a third party (e.g. O'Reilly)?
I believe that the vendor should default to providing online documentation, with the option to request printed manuals.
.
Quick comment re: PDF files -- they suck to read online, so you just push printing off onto the customers. Someone else will have to work out the economics of that.
Printed manuals are still necessary -- there's just something about being able to bookmark, dogear and flip back and forth around a physical book that online manuals can't duplicate.
Now, having said that, I find that probably 99% of the 'manuals' out there are useless. I know how they get made (like sausage and legislation, you don't want to know) and why they suck so bad. Half the documentation I prefer is in the form of an aftermarket book by O'Reilly or similar publisher. Most manuals focus too much on telling you merely how to invoke a certain function without saying why you'd want to do it, or how you go about actually solving a problem or accomplishing a task with the program.
In short, if all you've got is a functional reference, fine, just build a help file or javadoc and be done with it; don't expect your users to be happy with that though. If you have real manual that shows me how to go about doing real work, better print it -- and don't make me waste my company's expensive laser printer resources on it.
A really actually useful form of online manual would be one that is integrated with the program functionality. Let me explain. The best IDEs these days have pretty spiffy facilities for popping up lists of methods and parameters to complete the code you just entered. Say if while writing some java I declare a String variable someResult and then later as I'm writing code I type someResult then after short pause my IDE will pop up a list of all the methods available for String. Now that is a smart start, but what if I could also twiddle a mouse button on a key and have it pop open the entire javadoc for the class or method? Now we're getting somewhere. OK, the String class is simple and familiar I don't need it, but what about, say, JMenuItem -- yes, I expect to see not only the methods it defines but also inherited.
You could extend this to other programs besides IDEs, but the point is to have allow the user to access the relevant (important point!) docs without interrupting the workflow.
First of all, you MUST produce paper. Either that, or give out a free "webpad". I need to be able to take docs to the bathroom with me. That sounds funny, but I'm completely serious. I need to be able to read docs when I'm nowhere near a computer (in the car, in the bathroom, in a meeting, etc). The only thing I ever use the printer for is printing out electronic documents for later reading.
However, while paper is necessary it is not sufficient. I still need a searchable, cut-n-pastable something or other than I can access while I AM at my computer.
These requirements aren't difficult, though, unless your tech writers use pencil and paper. Just create docs in whatever software you use and produce them in book and, say, (standard, dammit) HTML formats.
If you decide to give up one format or the other, for god's sake, please spend the money saved on making the docs the best damn docs money can buy. For instance, create an index that does more than list keywords. Create a sensible table of contents. Use color illustrations where appropriate. To describe the "therbligate" button, do more than note succinctly "Press this button to therbligate".
--
Linux MAPI Server!
http://www.openone.com/software/MailOne/
(Exchange Migration HOWTO coming soon)
then I'd suggest a nice printed manual with a CD on the inside cover. You can have the best of both worlds.
Do a printed manual. They are invaluable. As has been mentioned they are easier to read, more portable, and work even when your computer isn't. They are what I want to work with when I am just learning a program. On the other hand,
Do a soft-copy manual and put it on a CD attached to the inside cover of the printed manual (ala those stupid books with "examples" CDs). I often find that AFTER I am familiar with a product, usually from reading the hardcopy docs, that when I want a quick answer I prefer soft-copy, searchable docs.
Skippy
"False modesty is the refuge of the incompetent." - The Stainless Steel Rat
A definite note in favour of paper is that you can read it while in a non-wired area, be that the bathroom, the bath, in bed, or out in a field. Even more in favour in my opinion is that it doesn't require me to flip between windows/programs, breaking my train of thought. If I need to know how something works, look it up in the index, and read the page, while the question is still on the screen (code, application, whatever).
Yes, digital manuals can be good, but they don't beat paper imo.
-- Sapere aude.
I would like it if some companies (cough... Micro$oft... cough) would just include adequate documentation in any form.
I have to agree that alot of documentation is worthless. This is NOT being helped by the 10,000 page unleashed dummy bibles that should have the famous cereal disclaimer:
This product sold by weight, not by volume. Some settling may have have occurred during shipping. Don't worry 'though 'cause our editors overpackaged in the first place.
Given my druthers, I'd rather have a decent online manual to a crappy paper one. The best situation, is, of course, a decent paper manual.
//e or Mac II. With HOW-TO's and FAQ's, not only do you have the ability these days of rolling your own machine and your own distro, but you are pretty much forced to roll your own documentation. My work machine has several files where I dump emails and Usenet posts to supplement poor documentation.
Why hasn't anyone questioned the quality of manuals of late? We're long gone from the thousands of pages of documentation I got on my Apple
Tell you what: take the $2 printing cost that your company spends on the paper manual, turn it into higher more/better writers, and give us some decent electronic documentation. (BTW, your company might have the greatest documentation since sliced bread, but I have no idea)
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
As much as I use computers and like to be at the bleeding edge of every development, I still want good old fashioned PRINTED manuals.
We've got some software that comes with software-only manuals in the company. Inevitably what happens is that people just print it out anyways. It would make the customer a LOT happier to heft a real manual in the box.
I see 2 main issues to software docs:
- No screen is as good as a printed piece of paper to read. Yet. And I've got some darn fine LCD's at my disposal. (including a 13.7" baby that will handle 1280x1024)
- It is WAY more convenient to flip through pages by hand than using any search function.
I feel this discussion is rather like
the digital/analog watch discussion.
Sometimes we geeks are rather quick at
dismissing older technology.
We've all heard it:
- newspapers are dead
- printed books are dead
- analog watches are dead
Etc..
The truth I feel, is always somewhere in the middle.
Searchable computer-manuals are great.
But having to open up a browser to read instructions or references is not the same
as just having it on paper.
Not everyone has dual-head display, and I'd like
to let my work have total focus on the desktop.
Virtual desktops are OK, but I really like a
printed manual.
Besides, some things will always need separate
manuals.
How much good does a PDF-manual do you, when
need help trying to get your OS to run properly?
That's great, I need the the PDF-manuals to
get the OS working properly, but if I could read
the PDF-manuals, I wouldn't need them.
Talk about the chicken and the egg...
Printed manuals is much, much better for newbies.
Some application could probably make it with
just browsable manuals on disk, but not all of them.
For now, a good printed manual is actually a reason why someone buys an application instead of
just pirating it, or downloading it legally (when we're talking about OSS).
Looking through all the replies it looks like the opinions varies quite a lot. A poll would be a better way to find a winner between these too answers:
Should today's software include printed manuals?
1. yes
2. no
I like printed manuals the most. They're easier to use than any search tools (I'm talking manuals, not encyclopedieas), they're easier on the eyes than today's monitors and can be read even though the computer is turned on. They're can even be read without a computer nearby.
This is semi-OT, but, is it just my impression or has the amounted of paper printed indeed increased exponentially with, in the last decade or so, computers having made printed material supposedly “obsolete”?
(Yeah, that sentence was rather a mouthful. Let me try to say that more clearly.) I get the feeling that, in the computer age, the use of paper has increased tremendously. I'm not just talking about twirps who feel the need to print thousand-pages long listings with just one column of digits on each page. I mean that not only have screens not replaced paper but computers seem to have made the need for the latter even higher. Probably because, before computers, the producer of some data used to print the data on paper; now it's the users who print the data (“data” in the broad sense—this includes manuals), even when they might not use it. (All right, this analysis is really simplistic; please fill in the missing details.)
The Xerox, ahem, photocopy machine, was the first step in the massive-paper-consumption trend. The computer was the second. Clay tablets, anyone?
I think that printed manuals are still a necessity, in a very real sense. For one there are times when you can study a printed manual and don't have access to a computer, for instance on a plane (no laptop) etc. Secondly (looking at my bookshelf) learning a new piece of software or hardware sometimes requires stepping away from the CRT and taking a break, which is a great time to RTFM. Thirdly you could move on to learning to program, yeah it's great to have a reference on your hard drive, but it is a real bitch to keep switching screens or windows to find what you need. Having a good old book laying on the desk, or in my case the floor, next to you is invaluable. In my mind there is no question, always provide a printed manual.
Personaly I dont need the paper manulas that ship with hardware, its usualy just a long description of how you plug in your powercord or fasten the screw to the case. But what I really want is the manuals of all old hardware to be online.
Everytime I find some old exotic hardware, like an old pentium motherboard, the paper manual is since long recycled but I still want to know how to flash the CMOS or disable the built in vibra sound chipset (or is it an sb16?).
Intel provides online technical documentation for olmost every pice of hardware they ever sold and thats great.
I would like to be able to find the tecnical reference manual for everything on the net, so I can se the specs for my toaster, or that old marantz reciever I found at the flea market.
I think its a good idea to sell stuff with a bare minimum of documentation. If you sell a big fat manual to thse who need it, we who dont need those huge gettin started books with everything we buy save trees and money, and they who do still has the option of getting one. If they buy an extra manual its a greater chance that they will actually read it before calling techsup (me).
Das Ix
This is my sig, show me yours
For those of you who saw the subject of this post and thought "WRONG!!", here me out. i can think of several very good reasons why printed manuals will (and should) quickly be superseded by soft copy:
Searchability - sure, it's been said before, but i'll say it again. It's very hard to search most large volumes of text by hand. Even indices in modern printed books aren't all that helpful. You still have to search the index for what you want to find. With better search techniques being researched everyday, and "intelligent" systems offering the added bonus of finding things better than traditional searches, indices and tables of contents just don't compare.
Hyperlinking - This is one of the greatest benefits of online manuals over hardcopy. Just the other day i was reading a textbook for a philosophy class which had an abundance of footnotes. Every time i wanted to read a footnote, i had to flip to the back of the book and flip through about thirty other pages of footnotes just to find the current one i was interested in. If it had been a book in HTML, i could have simply clicked on the footnote and it would have taken me immediately to the reference.
Physical space - i'm still a college student, so i move around a lot. Having to pack up, then cart over 100 pounds of books is not a task i look forward to. On the other hand, the entire Project Gutenberg, bzipped, fits on a single CDROM.
Usability - Some would counter that a manual is still necessary for first installation and setup, or when something goes wrong. i would counter that if computers were designed properly (software and hardware) then you wouldn't need much more than a sheet that shows where to plug in cables and where the power button is. Also, if you design the system properly, nothing should go wrong. i'm not saying that computer manufacturers should attempt to develop the perfect computer; that's impossible. But, at the very least, software engineers should make their software stable and robust with very obvious ways to get online help. The only reason some people complain that paper books are easier to use is that they are. If we design computers better, there would be no need for paper books.
Those are just my opinions, i'd like to hear if others have other good reasons for or against hard copy documentation.
Nathan's blog
i think it depends to some extent on the type of software involved (e.g. a boxed operating system should provide at least a simple reference manual in case the user can't get the system to install or boot), but for most applications, the advantages of electronic documentation make it the best way to go.
however, to accomodate those customers who do want printed media, a company should either provide printed (preferrably bound) versions of any manual on request, or distribute their documentation in such a way that another business or individual can legally create and distribute printed copies of the electronic manuals (read: GNU Free Documentation License).
I really hate software that comes with online-only documentation. I think the good old paper codex is 3 times faster to reference and learn from. But paperless documentation has a place.
The typical man page is a great form of paperless documentation... quick and fast, and very small. But, if I have to read the equivalent of a (pulling out a book I use regularly) 1,130 page book on the computer screeen, I won't be in a very happy mood. In fact, chances are I won't buy your product if it's commercial, unless it comes with a nice bound stack of dead tree.
When someone invents a device that lets me turn and scan paperless documentation as easily and as fast as a book, and also makes monitors as easy on the eyes for reading said documentation, I might change my mind. But, until then, I will stick with my friendly, easy to use, easy to read book.
"Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives" should be a convenience store, not a government agency.
I work for an IBM reseller in NZ (the sunny South Pacific).
Two things come up time and again.
1. Management *wont* / *dont* spend money to buy printed manuals unless they see a cost / benefit plus (read profit). Distribution costs to the rest of the world are too high.
2. Every manual produced by a vendor *may* not be relevant to your / my job situation or requirements.
By selectively printing the manuals I need / want I gain a better library at a zero distribution cost, than I would get by have every manual from the vendor sitting by my desk, and I would then have to have read and know each one. Whereas if they are electronic, I can search to find the relevant ones, and print those.
Why print them.
It is easier to read a PDF page on A4 (not all the world uses American standards(?)) where you can scan a page, and flick between two sections that need to be read in context with other. I find it hard to stick my finger in page 432, and jump back to page 192 when I am viewing a file on my 800x600 laptop display. Plus for those who learned to speed read, you see a page at a time of printed material. I *cant* see a full page of text on any PDF or HTML. Maybe we should have monitors that have a taller resolution than they are wide.... Ooops did someone say Apple !
my $0.02 worth (not much US$, probably about $0.01)
I use printed manuals extensively for a couple of reasons:
;-) (You gotta think of the other use for hard copy documentation - weapons)
1) To avoid using up the limited real estate on my monitor. If I'm dealing with something complex, I want to be able to read the documentation at the same time as doing what it tells me.
2) If I'm not around a computer. If I wish to prepare for the use of some software, I will occasionally read documentation on a plane, in the airport, at home in front of a television, etc. where a computer is not necessarily readily accessible.
3) It's legal for me to carry it anywhere. With much of the closed source software I use, it would be neither practical nor legal to have the electronic documentation accessible to me wherever I am. So, if an app compiled in VC++ reports back an error from a particular system call, I'm SOL 'til I can get back to my desk to look it up.
4) I just like the feel, the smell, the texture of books. I grew up loving books. It's a personal preference thing.
5) It's easier too whack a coworker over the head with a hard copy reference manual than with a CD.
As for the obvious. If you're going to do electronic documentation - do it in the right format for the platform. If your target is *NIX, do it with man pages, or TeXinfo. If your target is Windows, do it with RTF/Win Help. PDF and HTML are annoying as all hell for documentation. They're alright if the documentation is being downloaded from a website, but they don't typically fit the standard documentation format for the platform in question.
I don't know if it's alredy been said, because I'm quite lazy and not going to read all 330 comments but-
When I purchase a > $70 dollar app, I would like to have a nice thick manual/ref guide to go with it. It's mondo easy to search through- if it's properly indexed. I believe that part of the [inflated] price now adays is simply for printing the manual. W/o a printed manual, i believe it gives people further incentive to illigally copy software. Many Newbies copy, and then are stuck w/o a reference guide.
So, in a nutshell, I expect manuals with all software I buy. in fact, I believe all softare (OS's) should come with a PROGAMMER's MANUAL (hint, hint, Microsoft), therefore advanced users can take full advantage of features that common users will not use.
Why aren't you encrypting your e-mail?
I think people have forgotten one of the most important reasons for a printed manual -- Browsing. I have noted that in my organization, programs that don't have any form of printed manual tend to be underutilized. People don't browse on-line help, the browse printed manuals (in the bathroom, on the subway, etc.) What this means is that, deprived of a printed manual, many users never even know what features exist in the program.
If it's a vital feature, then they'll look for it and find it in the on-line help, but if it's one of those features that would make them 50% more productive, they'll never look for it because they don't know it exists!
I would say that a lack of printed manual is equivalent to removing about 50% of the features for about 50% of the users (the 50% who would read the manuals...).
hmmm....
You must have hard copies because, what about when you are going step by step through a howto or something and you kill your box. I mean, not everyone has multiple boxen in the same room...
...although you should.
Opportunities multiply as they are seized. --Sun-Tzu
I think both are needed. A searchable document is very handy when you already know what you are looking for. A printed document is handy when you want to learn about the capabilitites of the program. I like bound documentation a lot and I would resent not having it. For open source software I tend to buy books. My biggest problem is bad documentation. A manual which takes 50 pages to say nothing of importance is all too common. So are documents written by the programmer who may be genious but simply can not explain to a newbie what he/she intuitively understands so completely.
Keep it concise and simple. Include lots and losts of examples covering different scenarios, explain all options in detail and how they may trip over each other. Use analogies to corrolate to concepts that the user may already understand. Don't veer too oftopic just fill some pages.
Clarity and completeness that's what I want.
War is necrophilia.
No, they can't be dead. Or how could the Camel book sell so well if most
stuff is in the perl man pages ?
Actually, this is IMHO for two reasons:
a) You can take the book around, so you can read wherever you want.
b) If you ever found yourself having six or more VTs open just because you
need information on some language feature or whatever, you'll probably
know how much you wished for something printed on paper that moment.
Having said all that... O'Reilly includes their own java-based search engine with their CD Bookshelf series. And their offerings are a series of individual HTML files.
So yea... you don't need to have one fat file to search if you're willing to put a bit of extra effort in to it (or provide the tools as part of the documentation).
It exists, though it doesn't do PDF, and it's still a little expensive:
n quiry.asp?userid=4J8E9GM4QN&srefer=&isbn=0 641046197
http://shop.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbni
Or, you could get a Palm or WinCE device. My understanding is that the WinCE's larger color screen would be ideal for this sort of thing. (And I think you can get a PDF reader for WinCE.)
Disclamer: I have never used thier service, only heard about it.
However, FatBrain (www.fatbrain.com) offers what they call "Print On Demand" services which permit authors of software (amongst others) to provide electronic manuals, and give them an option to buy the printed manual from FatBrain. What makes this system interesting is that there is no risk to you: they literally print the book on demand just before shipping. That way, there isn't excess inventory, and you could even set the print costs to just above the cost to print the manual--that way, your company saves on printing costs and inventory costs, and for those (like myself) who want printed manuals, they have a low-cost alternative to printing the whole thing out.
My understanding is that print-on-demand services is also provided by Barnes and Nobel, though I couldn't find any information on their web site.
For more information about FatBrain's print on demand services, visit http://www1.fatbrain.com/inf oexchange/program.asp?vm=c
Let me make this clear: I LIKE books. I HATE reading a screen for extended periods of time. Even a small, handheld one. If I have to use software without a manual, I usually print out its docs. This is irritating; I would rather have a preprinted copy, particularly if I'm forking out money for this software. While electronic media offer the potential to save many a tree, paper still has a place in the world, and will for quite some time, I think.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I agree very strongly with your point about needing a printed manual in case the computer doesn't work. Having printed directions was very helpful when I was installing Linux, and then figuring out how to fix something I broke. If I can't even boot up Linux, how am I supposed to go look up how to fix it? And during installation it's a little hard to view an html file at the same time your partitioning your harddrives. Granted some things may not need manuels, but for stuff like OS's or cases where the computer is off while your doing something, printed manuals are a must.
Indeed. I also don't consider .pdf files to be any more useful than other forms of documentation. The only reason to use something like pdf is that they want to give you something that looks like a book without actually giving you a book. Kind of like taking the bus is just like driving a car without actually driving a car. There are probably other formats that would be more useful electronically if you can just break out of the "it must look like a book" mindset.
Wandering slightly off topic, but this reminds me of the mournful transition in the Windows world from simple, human-readable/editable INI files to that hideous monstrosity that is the System Registry. With INI files, I could at least look at them and maybe figure out what went wrong with the software in question, even if that software was Windows.
In really desperate situations, I could resort to COPY CON WHATEVER.INI, which I did once out of necessity. Try editing the Registry like that when you can't get the GUI to boot. Heck, try to edit the Registry even with the GUI tools -- now there's a black art on par with, say, configuring the X Window System by hand.
Well, maybe configuring X is easier. :)
--
"I have a good idea why it's hard to verify programs. They're usually wrong." --Manuel Blum, FOCS 94
This is a non-debate. I don't have an extra CRT to lug around with me to read manuals and I'm not going to waste my time with stupid window and web page metaphors when I can just flip through a damn book. Reading documentation on a CRT is awful. The necessity of paper documentation should be proportional to the complexity of the program. No, don't print out the man page for ls, but I'll be damned if I can't find a book on the OS I use.
I would also like to personally throttle cheapskate game developers who only include documentation in an electronic form - I'm not going to friggin flip back and forth between a damn PDF file in the middle of a game.
It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
In addition to the things I've seen other people write, there are two more important benefits of printed manuals over electronic:
1) The "Oh Shit!" factor. When things go really bad with the machine, it's important to have a source for information on how to recover that does not rely on using the machine that you are Oh Shitting about.
This doesn't even need to be a big Oh Shit. It could be something as simple as a modal dialog box you've never seen before that you don't understand the results of. Or it could be knowing that the program doesn't have too deep of an undo buffer, so you don't want to waste valuble undo slots scanning docs online, etc.
Printing out the relevant docs ahead of time might not work, because you might not -know- what docs are relevant.
2) Annotations. I've seen some manuals where the user has carefully noted in the manual details specific to their installation, or corrections or clarifications of the material in the manual, or loaded with bookmarks to help them find things, etc. This can't be done with some types of online docs (CD-ROM is notorious for being write-resistant), and is hard or confusing to do for others (I know there are ways to annotate web documents, but it isn't foolproof).
Bad indexing and organisation is a problem with both printed and on-line manuals. Online manuals typically allow you to include a lot more information, but indexing and cataloging issues may make it hard to find anything in the mess.
pdf seems to be the best electronic format available currently... you can search through it electronically and most important you can print it as many times as you need to. html can deliver this as long as the document is presented as one monolithic file.
it's a must as far as i am concerned to provide electronic copy of manuals... i can turn that into paper when i need to.
our company releases only in electronic format - both pdf and online book html format. it works well... but we're not distributing boxed software.
- tim -= remove "-spam-" from address before spamming =-
In case you missed the quickie a few months back, here's a solution: http://www.iol25.com/mfreeland/wow.htm
Personally I don't want to lash out the readies on a new hand-held. Nor do I want to spend a couple of hours waiting for it to recharge before taking it anywhere. Nor do I want to peer at a nasty low-res LCD screen.
Nor, of course, do I want my manual to be tied to my normal desktop computer.
WTF's wrong with printed manuals anyway? Sure, they save the manufacturer a bit of money, but the recycled paper boom (etc) is making it basically environmentally sound to print. And even text on a 96dpi screen (or 72dpi on my Mac) pales in comparison to a decent 300dpi printed volume. Sure, provide electronics for searching, but not as a replacement...
- Oliver. "exp(i*Pi)+1=0" - Euler
I can read for hours and not get a sore wrist. I can curl up in a chair, or on a couch, or -- DEAR GOD NO, NOT THE SHINY BRIGHT YELLOW THING -- even go outside and catch some sun.
But even if I'm just clicking my way through a PDF or HTML file, indoors, in a chair, it's the exact same clicky-clicky motions I make all day. It still causes stress on the wrists.
Give me a hand-held PDF reader with a decent battery life that won't cost me my left testicle, and I'll throw out the paper and sit outside with that instead. But until then...
You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)
I can take a book anywhere and read it. Try reading the manual to your computer system when the computer is not functioning. Sun has this right. With their systems you get a shelf full of manuals that is about 1m-1.5m long.
---- aut viam inveniam aut faciam
It really steams me when I buy software that comes without printed manuals. They're of great use in multiple occations 1) When I'm sitting on the pot with nothing else to read 2) When I'm at school with nothing to do/read 3) When I'm not on the computer and want to learn more about X software's function 4) When printer materials (paper, ink) cost money. I can assure you, all of the above reasons happen very often. I poop a lot, I go to school and run out of stuff to do (well, technically, I don't... but interesting stuff, yeah), I'm not on the computer all day (I have a family), and not much in this world is free. I'm not a linux hacker who spends all day and night on my PC. Although I'd love to be, I'm still a high school student living at home with only limited time access to the computer. I try to fit as much into that time as I can. Reading a software manual could be done at other times.
Sometimes you must have a papermanual. The generic example being hardware installation and drivers for hardware. It is very hard to install a SCSI-card and it's drivers on a new computer without information on how to force [insert your favorite operating system here] to recognize the card and the disks connected to it.
Normally it is motivated to have different kinds of documentation on paper and on line (as windows help files, Acrobat PDF etc.).
The very detailed information on java classes or Office-details can be very efficient to have in a searchable index or even as context-sensitive help.
But some kinds of manuals doesn't easily convert to on-line help or documentation. It's the tutorials and the long handbooks where you can read through long sequences of text and annotated examples to get a first impression or learn things you wouldn't learn by trial and error. Of cource this can be done on line, but then you cannot read the text on the train or without a computer.
Then, it's nice with books - I like my reference litterature. Considering the state of modern GUIs it's still easier to find your way back to a snippet by flicking pages in a book than to remember the exact search you used to find it last - in a book the information has a physical location.
dk_a_stacken_kth_se@foo.com Remove "@foo.com" from email, interpret the rest.
I'd be lost without printed manuals. I spend half of my time travelling on the airlines, and its virtually impossible to open a laptop on some flights, and a Palm does have a very limited in-RAM capability. Give me a paper manual that I can open up on a plane, or carry to the washroom with me. CD-based HTML (or preferably PDF) documents have their very valued place, but absolutely can NOT replace paper.
In about 1997, Symantec released pcANYWHERE 8.0, the first Symantec software product to be realeased with all documentation in PDF format on the CD. pcANYWHERE has two main sets of users, telecommuters and IT professionals. Symantec figured that the clientele were, on average, more computer savvy than the average user, and could handle online documentation. The manuals were searchable, easy to read, and there was a big friendly "Read the manual" button on the autorun screen as soon as you inserted the CD.
Dumb idea.
I supported pcAnywhere on the phone for part of that time, and a day didn't go by during which I didn't get my ear chewed off at least once for not shipping a manual. What really infuriated customers is when I would offer them the option of having a printed copy of the manual shipped to them for the cost of postage--PAY to have what is theirs by divine right? And most astonishingly, 90% of the complaints were from the system administrators and other IT professionals who just couldn't be bothered to read--or even notice--the documentation on the CD. And this was after pcANYWHERE 8.0 had been out already for two years.
Maybe it's different in the unix world. If you use *n?x, you're accustomed to reading man pages and whatnot as a way of life. But I don't see O'Reilly going out of business, do you?
The upshot of all this: online documentation is great. Searchable documentation, wonderful. Include it on the CD, please! But if you're considering putting out software without printed manuals, and you don't want to double or triple the size of your Customer Service and Technical Support departments--think again!
Not only do I prefer HTML to PDF, I think the claim that PDF files are portable is a false one. Adobe doesn't include all of the possible fonts anymore, on the theory that some fonts are included with MS-Windows. I have a CD full of PDF files that I simply cannot read on Linux because of this treacherous decision by Adobe. Also, even where PDF files do not refer to MS fonts, the PDF view for Linux is notoriously buggy. "acroread" crashes all the time.
HTML lacks some of the bells and whisles that PDF files have, but HTML is much more reliable. And, do you really need those bells and whistles that HTML doesn't provide. HTML has always been more than adequate for any documentation that I've needed to do.
I love opening a box and finding a thick manual. I play around with the software for a few minutes, and then sit down and read (or at least browse through) the manual. Doing this not only lets me be informed of all options and potential snags, it keeps me from forming unproductive habits when there are better ways. ("No, I prefer to toggle through the weapons in Quake rather than use the hotkeys." etc..)
Of course, game companies that don't suck *waves hi to everyone at Blizzard* do give you printed manuals.
--
"HORSE."
"HORSE."
-Flaming Carrot
Printed manuals are nice for learning about something w/o having the software to go with it. Take SQL for example. I learned SQL from an Oracle book a few months before I had any access to a SQL database. They are also nice when only one station has the software installed (for space or license reasons, for example) yet someone other than the owner of that station wants to give input. The person sitting at the machine can look up online information while any other people in the vicinity look at the book. Or, as is many times the case, the machine the software is on is locked but I am thinking about some problem posed to me and want to look up something about it.
PDF's are nice if you plan to print the documentation, but otherwise I usually have to zoom in past full-page mode to read anything, resulting in jerky scrolling. I like online (web)documentation, especially when it is annotateable (like php.net's publicly annotated documentation). A series of static & local HTML pages is ok to read, but tends to be lacking easy search funcationality.
So, I believe that online documentation should still be included in some easily searchable format, but I feel cheated when a major package comes with no printed documentation aside from "Getting Started with This-Big-Complicated-Application/Database System."
Yes, you need printed manuals - or not - you don't say what your software is. If it is complex, anything like Word or Photoshop, I'd like manuals. If you want them to be really useful, make them spiral-bound so they LIE FLAT. Next best is heavy hardcover. Next best is stapled. What IDIOT decided that perfect-bound was good for computer manuals I don't know. It may be cheaper, but it's not much good if you need one hand to hold the manual open while you type.
The paperless manual idea is just so much rubbish. for two reasons, firstlyit's just a marketing exercise. Your software may cost half as much as there's but if i've still got to go out and buy $50 of manuals to get it working, then it's just a coaster, not a CD full of usefull things.
the other argument is what happens when the software goes wrong, how do I look in my non working manual to repair my non working computer? searchable manuals are not that graet an advantage, as long as the manual publisher puts a semi decent index in the book, I think I can cope with finding the page I want. PDF manuals are a complete and total pain, I tend to find that they are completely inadequate for any job I have to do. the only advantage that they have is that I can actually turn them into printed manuals
It depends entirely on what the software is. If I'm playing around with a very user-friendly app, I don't mind having to open up a .pdf file for a couple of minutes to answer a simple question. However, there's nothing worse than having to constantly flip windows back and forth between an application and the documentation--that cuts productivity in half. If the software is not self-explanatory, there's no substitute for a printed manual. At least, not until two monitors become standard (mmmm... XFree86 4.0...).
There's a lot of stuff you still can do better with a paper document than with an online book:
* Use it when the machine is down.
* Use it when something is fouled up, hung, or just busy with the thing the manual describes. (In particular, your first times through a complicated process you don't want to make it still more complicated by flipping to help screens - which may not be fully available at every micro-step of interaction.)
* Stick a finger or a bookmark in one passage while reading another, and flip between them (or among several).
* Highlight important passages.
* Take notes in the margins.
* Study it in bed.
I could go on.
Further: display technology is still orders of magnitude away from being able to display as much, as conveniently, as a couple hundred pages of paper. Imagine trying to read in bed with a megapixel monitor sitting on your belly. Then think about staking up a couple hundred of them, to simultaneously display the whole writeup.
Which is not to say that online help isn't good, too. For starters, it can do things that are difficult on printed paper, such as generalized searches. (An index is a pain to generate. And even when present it only covers what the writer thought was significant, which is usually not everything the reader wants to look up.)
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Help screens have natural boundaries that tend to bias the author toward "soundbite" terseness. Printed manuals aren't as restricting, which makes them more suited to more leisurely examination of deep subjects.
Cloning a paper-style manual to a screen doen't really help: The screen's limitations make reading a long flow more difficult. (Try reading the same document in Adobe Pageview and on bound paper.)
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
At least, not until they invent the three shells...
The only use I can see for on-line documentation is for small things that don't require a lot of flipping back and forth for. Having to pull up the documentation on the screen just uses up my available screen space, or adds extra steps for me to refer back to the manual.
:)
.pdf files. They're great for giving a layout that can be printed easily, but trying to get information from those slow-loading things is such a pain...
Give me a well-written book over on-line documentation any day. Something I can refer to when I'm far away from my computer, just planning what I intend to do. Something with a hefty index, and easy-to-find seperations between sections. Something I can mark up, stick bookmarks into, and open immediately to the interesting points by judging the thickness of the part I'm opening. Heck, gimme something I can fling across the room with a satisfying thud when things aren't going right!
Of course, most manuals these days aren't very well written. I still keep an old Zenith DOS 3.0 manual because later manuals tended to be incredibly light on content. But I'd rather have a manual for reference rather than on-line docs any day.
And don't even get me started on
Besides, paper doesn't crash, it loads instantly, and you can hide silly bits in it a lot easier than you can on a computer screen. Keep the paper manuals.
------------
Demanding constant attention will only lead to attention.
I like computer based manuals due to the fact that I can search them quite easily but I tend to print out the manuals too if there isn't one already available. Until everybody has some device that they can carry around with them it's nice to have a paper manual to bring on the bus, to lunch, etc... for instance I work as a SAS programmer and have 4 1000 page books along with an online reference. But most of the time I use the books because I have tons of little sticky notes all over them and they are much easier to write on than the online version. Then if I can't find it in the paper version I go to the online version. Keep the paper books coming!
Only a small percentage of the traditional bound manual deserves to be on paper. If some people find it unattractive to read a manual on a computer screen (I don't much mind), consider what it's like trying to read a screen shot printed in a book!
I've received a lot of printed manuals over the years where I've never even cracked the cover.
These days I usually find what I scrape off the internet to be more valuable than what the vendor supplies anyway. Web pages often say something along the lines of "if you try to X in the obvious way it will blow up in your face because the vendor screwed the pooch on concept Y".
I haven't read a lot of vendor manuals that show the same concern for saving the victim (user of the product) from experiencing unnecessary grief.
I'd rather have the option to get a printed manual, because learning styles vary between individuals, and even within: some programs I like online docs, and for others I gotta have a book. I have a dog eared old html reference (that actually is a printed out web page) that's probably not the greatest, but I still use it because for some reason unclear even to me, it suits me and it gets the job done relatively quickly compared to other docs I've tried.
Having the option to print out a PDF is a fairly good compromise, but it sure helps to have a quick, duplex capable printer. Even so, a whole book printed on 8 1/2 * 11 paper seems awkward sometimes.
This topic is extra interesting in light of the Library of Congress/digitizing books discussion of last week.
People who want to use computers for non trivial things - tend to read manuals...
Look after Today's children, for they are Tomorrow's Society!
Good online hypertext manuals are great when you're browsing around or searching for that ellusive command or function. If you have the extra screen real estate a Netscape window with the reference manual is great.
But when you really get coding and you have 5-10 terminals/editors open switching between desktops gets cumbersome and that's where a printed manual shines. Instead of flipping back and forth between windows you just look down at the page. Think of it as another 11" screen with an easy to use interface that you can put anywhere.
And for those of us who don't sleep next to their computers, some printed manuals make great cures for insomnia!
A printed manual consists of dead trees, indeed.
However, in the context of trying to learn something really new or different, or trying to learn a text-based application, paper manuals are much more important. It is annoying to have to switch between windows all the time when learning, paper text is still much easier to read for a long time period, and it can be marked up and augmented in ways that online documentation cannot. When I was learning vi, my paper "cheat sheet" of common commands was far more useful than any kind of online documentation would have been, because I could mark it and refer to it easily.
I do wish that hardware vendors would publish the complete specs of their products on paper. Having to hunt down specs online is annoying.
---- I'm going to lead you kicking and screaming, giggling and laughing into the future.
Please convince them that they are right. :) They shouldn't provide printed manuals. That way, when I go out and buy printed guides, I'll have a leg up over my competition.
But, seriously, anyone who has ever had a complete set of encyclopedia knows deep down that books are incredibly useful. Now, if your help system was fully indexed and quickly searchable, then I would prefer the help system, but it's got to be on my local machine. I'm not willing to set up a net connection on every bloody computer I work on just to get at some slightly obscure command-line switch.
Dave
Barclay family motto:
Aut agere aut mori.
(Either action or death.)
If given the option of buying two programs, one with full documentation, and one with minimal (or none), I'll go for the books whenever I can...
as many have said, having something to reference, away from a computer, makes a big difference.
there are doorways I haven't opened, and windows I've yet to look through. Going forward may not be the answer..
I don't even look at online documentation. It's a pain in the ass to try and run an application and try and figure out how to use it on the same screen. I have to be able to look at both at once.
Okay,
:)
:)
I confess I love the PDF Format and the way you can move files easily around. But I also catch myself rather often when I print out something just to have it easier to read.
I must say though that I am thinking about getting an e-book. If the reading quality really is as good as on paper I might be convinced, but alone the abilit to simply write something on the back of a sheet of paper or simply mark important parts in a book are essentials to me
So DON'T stop giving printed manuals (yet)
Just my 2 cents.
If you want to e-mail me, use my PGP Key.
Some good points have been made here about the relative merits of print vs. electronic manuals. Judging from the fact that a quick search didn't turn up any references to translation, I don't think that issue has been dealt with. One of the things that online documentation makes possible is the distribution of a single software package with documentation in a number of languages. This can be extremely important for open source projects where there is no way to recover the cost of translation and printing in many minority languages. Sure, there are large, easily definable markets for Linux with English, German, French, or Spanish documentation, as well as others. What about less widely used languages?
In thanks for some open source translations I did, MandrakeSoft sent me a copy of Mandrake 7.0 (thanks, especially to Pablo). Somehow I got on the list for a copy with Spanish documentation. My conversational Spanish is rusty and my technical Spanish is non-existant. And it doesn't matter. The full English documentation is on the CD ROM. Besides, I translated the quick install instructions, so I ought to be able to find them again.
The point I am driving at is that no Linux distribution is going to make money selling a distribution with printed documentation in Esperanto. The potential market is rather small, and is spread throughout the world. Yet because of the nature of Esperanto as an interlanguage, Esperantists have a need for an internationalized computing platform that can handle their own native language and Esperanto. Given the open source model, and volunteers, it is possible to have support for many languages, each for the tiny cost of the space it's documentation occupies on a CD ROM. If there is a market for the printed documentation, the printing and distribution of that can be handled separately.
The net will not be what we demand, but what we make it. Build it well.
This was rated "Funny", but it was actually the first thing I thought of when I considered this topic. I, too, often use the "wasted" time in the bathroom reading manuals or user guides that I otherwise don't have time for.
Electronic manuals are great when you need to look up something very specific. They allow you to quickly (sometimes) search for relevant references and cross-link related topics.
However, to thoroughly peruse manuals and user guides, printed documents are a necessity. Reading a computer screen for anything more than a few minutes at a time is a strain on both the eyes and the muscles (for me, especially the neck muscles).
So, I say that both forms of documentation have their purposes. I.e., printed documentation should not be eliminated.
How are ya gonna install your first system? w/o a printed manual? Also, who likes to keep switchin back n forth between windows? Also switching between bookmarks in a manual is a lot easier than reloading webpages lol
lol.. me again.. just wanted to add something........
doesn't everyone love to go to bed reading a good hardware manual?
These should be provided on paper: installation documentation, a quick-start guide with pertinent keystrokes, and any other things that might be oft-used. API's and large reference manuals should go online. If the person wants to print out pertinent sections of said references, then so be it. But why waste paper for what may never be read? Smaller manuals also allow more environmentally friendly packaging to be used. The installation and quick-start guides can be published in the booklet that slides into the jewel-box, and then you can put cellophane wrap on it, and voila! You have your software package. No big bulky boxes, and you can send it right in the mail with a stamp on it.
'He who has to break a thing to find out what it is, has left the path of wisdom.' -- Gandalf to Saruman
Let me also say that the complaint that online documentation is too hard to read is a red herring. As display technology improves (e.g., sub-pixel addressing technologies like ClearType), this will become less and less of an issue over time. Hell, make the docs available in RocketBook format. Anything to save trees. It's just more paper clogging our landfills when the software becomes obsolete.
'He who has to break a thing to find out what it is, has left the path of wisdom.' -- Gandalf to Saruman
They had better stay around.. what else would I read while I'm on the John.
Peace
-- iNFRARED
My personal opinion is that printed manuals should stay, but allow vendors to charge an extra fee for a copy of a printed manual. With everything going to html or .pdf format it's gotta be driving the cost of software down at least a bit, but it's still nice to have a printed manual avaialable for those of us who prefer to have a physical in hand reference.
Third party vendors seem to be doing a fair job of putting out printed material on software though as well, and as long as that market continues to thrive then the vendors shouldn't be able to charge an arm and a leg for printed documentation, but they should be allowed to regain their costs.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Short answer: If funds are tight, hire top notch manual writers and do the best job you can digitally with HTML. But high density computer books and essential manuals should be in print plus non-proprietary format on CD. Website-based manuals should provide a tarball and updates (spent *lots* of time spidering manuals that way..) Microsoft should stop wasting all those trees, the manuals suck so badly they should just be used as search engine fodder with someone smart making a hierarchical list of links so you can use it fast.
Absolutely essential to have one or the other when you need it. All printed docs should come with a searchable version obviously. The Inside Macintosh tomes just had to be on CD or else.. but the software and font size absolutely sucked (I used it to hack Quicktime for Windows and while the Apple Quicktime online manual site was fantastic, it cost a lot of money to use online when I really just wanted a tarball of the site!!) When I learned Japanese I used Nelson's for years and got to the point where I normally opened the book to the right page better than theory (well not quantum) would allow. Even tried to scan it, but some books, especially algorithmic or with graphics, you need in print.
That said, everything by Microsoft should be free on the CD not print.. I have found it all to be horrible, low satisfaction per kilo, and best used for searching. Course they should be shot just for the horrible Java-based site they have. As if paper is the only way to control piracy. Serious manuals and computer books should all have websites with errata and ads to support the book.
Check this out-- keep an online version of the documentation in a CVS tree. Then everyone using the fscking stuff can fix errors, share code fixes, note bugs, and search locally and on the web site. Next step: find a way to let you integrate all manuals you have (or have subscribed to) onto your harddisk (I'd settle for just dropping a bunch of html tarballs in and mangling it myself) so I can have a knowledge base. I did this with much of Microsoft and Apple sites and was willing to spend time editting local HTML pages to keep navigation and research topics together. If everyone is having the same problem, some kind of database and CVS-type solution seems imperative. Oh yeah, integrated IRC (/join Chapter 26 Null Pointers in Windows) would be nice too thanx.
I don't think they should be PDFs. It's not always the most convenient thing to have a PDF viewer open at the same time as whatever you're tring to figure out. Help systems I've encountered are very rarely helpful. Websites can be nice, especially for info that needs to be current (ie bug reports). I think printed manuals are still needed if you want to sell to the most clueless customers (puhdiff? what's a puhdiff?). Printed manuals are definitely better for anything requiring rebooting and any hardware installation/configuration. If you install something that messes up your booting capability, how else do you get help?
The PDFs might be good if someone makes a device for viewing PDFs from CDs that is completely independant of the computer, and cheap enough so everyone has one. This doesn't look too likely with the current cost of displays.
--
Seeing is believing; You wouldn't have seen it if you didn't believe it.
But I flip through my computer screen!
I agree... I love printed manuals... I used to just sit and read them in the summer... same with encyclopedias and dictionaries... even if man pages and grep'able HOWTO/FAQ texts/HTML documents are convenient, sometimes it's just far easier to glance quickly through a book when you're looking for something you're not quite sure what to call...
--TheOrangeSquid Is it any wonder things seem so awry? We swim in a sea of confusion and don't have to think to survive
I'd rather have the option to
1) just buy the CD : no box, no printed manuals, just a CD containing the software and the documentation in electronic form.
or
2) buy the box with everything included in 1) plus a printed manual for a couple more $$$.
That way, people could have the best of both worlds. Pay less and use electronic media or pay the lumberjack to cut some trees.
GFK's
The beauty of online documentation is being able to find what you want, and quickly! If you look at the phone-books that come with programs like Cool Edit, you know that finding anything specific is a task that takes a bit of time. With online documentation, you have the "Find" feature allowing you to enter keywords and getting references to exactally what is needed, when you need it. This works only if the documentation is kept separate from the program so if the program dies, the documentation does not!
-- From my Best Friend (Written to me over ICQ): "i was gonna go to a party...but i had to reinstall windows"
Opening up a huge box to a piece of software and finding nothing inside but a CD and perhaps a company catalog sucks. It gives the impression of a cheap product.
If your software is of the type that requires documentation for proper use, you can't expect anyone to sit down and read your online manual.
If your software is cheap and very uncomplicated, I guess you can omit the manual. But the decline of the printed manual follows the decline in software quality.
A'course, no printed manual is better than a really bad one.
Where is my mind?
mfspr r3, pc / lvxl v0, 0, r3 / li r0, 16 / stvxl v0, r3, r0
Check out Project Upper/Mute, an all-around awesome compiler fra
You know, you'd *think* most of the money would be made on service, but I dunno... In 1997 I bought, brand new, an Oldsmobile Aurora. I love the car. Nicest car I've ever owned.. but I digress... I take the car to the *same* dealer I bought it from for *all* service. In 2.5 years we've built a pretty good relationship, mainly because I've busted the chops of the service staff so many times over breaking the damn thing when they service it. And that's my point: I've taken that car into them for every regular service, but they screw up with little stuff so much that I *think* they've actually spent *more* money on the car than *I* have.
;)
;-P
Yea, I *suppose* they're supposed to make money off of service of the car, I sure hope it offset the 1200 bucks they put into it on my behalf last year...
Hmm.. now that I think about it, I really have to find a new dealer...
Polymorphism -- It's what you make of it.
I personally like to be able to read away from the computer, i dont like having to sit down hunched over the computer all day, when icould be reading the manual outside in a park while relaxing in the sun.
I have to agree with your statement about binders. They would even lay flat so you might actually be able to read them AND use the software at the same time. But if the manuals are anything like some of the on-line "help" and pdf manuals I have seen with some recent software, who ever wrote that crap should be forced to watch re-runs of Pat Robertson's last Presidential campaign
If you think it's the type of program that people might go out and buy a book for, include a manual.
It doesn't have to be a 600-page "everything the developers ever envisioned for this piece of software, and how to use it, in excruciating detail", but it should at least allow someone to learn the program without refering to online help, and enough to tell them how to use the most common features.
If people didn't want printed manuals, how would SCC stay in business? (Are they still in business? maybe bad example.) People buy printouts of stuff they can get online for free. Clearly, they like paper.
--Kevin
Printed manuals often depend on the quality. For years Microsoft stuff came with huge, annoy, crappy manuals. I don't even know if they include manuals with their stuff anymore that cover more than installation, because all I ever see are OEM/Mass Liscensed versions.
.02 on manuals. Back to working out my summer budget.
I think many commercial products tend to ship with cruddy manuals to get people to take classes taught by the vendor. Big surprise there.
Some graphics packages come with huge, well written, easy to reference manuals. Gotta love those.
Sun Stuff comes with most of the documentation on CD, which makes it easy to just search through it all. Even better, they provide http://docs.sun.com that allows anyone to search through tons of documentation and look for just about anything needed for a Sun product, which is damned handy when i don't have time to root thru a book or dig out the cd.
Man pages of course rock. We use Legato networker at work, and one of the other admins had a spiral bound collection of the man pages. I'm not sure if it came with the software or as the books from a class, but it has to be the best manual I've ever seen for referencing commands, because with the spiral binding I can just flop it open and lay it wherever.
In time tho, I would like to see paper manuals be replaced by documentation on CD, or on the web. It seems terribly lame that big companies throw out thousands of little installation guides and assorted manuals (Such as the big multi language Sun liscense/intall packs, or the little install guides that come with OEM/Corporate version of windows) that never even get read. Imagine if all of those had just been left alone as nice, air cleaning, heat absorbing, shade providing trees.
Game manuals are the lamest. I don't know why the hell games still come with these. It isn't bad enough that game companies waste tons of paper on huge boxes and cardboard inserts, but they pack in manuals that nobody reads. Why the hell would I sit down and read a huge game manual when I could just play through a well designed tutorial? Console game companies realized this a long time ago and now place instructions wherever convienient in the game. PC game companies still insist of dumping in some little book that most people only glance through. They need to just put the manual on the CD in HTML and forget the paper.
Anyway, that's my
Games can avoid manuals in some cases. Some of Nintendo's games, especially Zeldas, have a mockup of the controller onscreen so you know what the buttons do just by looking at the screen. Also, some fighting games (something from SNK or Capcom) superimpose some button sequences on top of the game action.
If we want to save trees by going paperless, we have to make paperless as comfortable as paperful. How do we do that?
1: Bigger monitors. If you get rid of all the paper on your desk, in your cabinets and in your shelves, you have a lot of space left, right? How about taking up all that space with a really large monitor! Say an 18 * 32 inch flatscreen at 1800 * 3200 resolution! It could be something you hang on your wall, or something that you lay on your desk. With all that screen space, you would have plenty of screen space for your apps and docs without any overlap. IMO for the next few years sub-$2000 PC technology should stay put while monitors get bigger and flatter.
2: Touchscreen OS. Another thing people like about paper that PCs don't do is that they're tangible. Well, let's make PC screens tangible! It would be a fairly direct transition; instead of a mouse cursor you touch the screen. Of course, many elements in today's OSs are too small to touch, so OS designers would have to make every tangible onscreen element no smaller than 1 cm^2. For this system, as you switch resolutions, the onscreen elements would keep their size but just change in detail.
2: Better integration of helpscreens. Microsoft had a good idea, but bad implementation, to put those dancing cartoons in Office. As many of you said, there must be some way to make non-print help elements simply easier to access. There are many possible ways to do this, and IMO all of them involve rebuilding app delivery from the ground up. Maybe future apps will be delivered as web sites and the help screen will be part of the browser screen. Maybe apps will always dedicate a part of the screen to help. What are your ideas?
The one thing that I do have to say about paper manuals is the bathroom factor. I've learned a hellof a lot by taking manuals with me into the bathroom on longer trips. Screens just don't cut it for that type of stuff.
willis/
there is no thing
what else could you want?
Basically, there are three advantages for paper documentation:
Advantages of online documentation include:
Giant reference manuals, which are seldomly used, are a good example of documentation that can be placed online only.
One thing you should always do is provide all of your documentation electronically. A user should be able to view all the documentation online if he chooses. Never provide any documentation in paper format only. You may also want to sell two versions of the application: one with and the other without paper manuals. The version without paper manuals should be cheaper.
And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
Ok, I came into this conversation late, so it probably won't get moderated up, but here it goes.
:-)
I recently got a new dual processor motherboard. I opened the box to grab the manual and see what the jumper settings needed to be, only to find a 3.5" floppy disk instead. This contained the manual I was looking for in PDF format. Talk about a "what came first, the chicken or the egg?" situation. Thank god I was REPLACING my current motherboard
For other things, online docs are ok. you do have the ability to grep large documents faster than you can large paper manuals. IMO, that's really the only advantage. I prefer the dead tree manual to everything else. have you ever tried reading a hexdump of a binary file while reading the ELF manual at the same time? very difficult when you don't have the space on your screen to display both at a resonable size at the same time.
Customers liked them so much that we started releasing updates to them. We went from releasing them every 2 yeas to every year, then every 6 months, then every 3 months.
When the work sterted to get overwhelming (and our customer base grew) I went in to ask for another engineer to help the project keep on schedule. In the meeting, my boss informed me that we spent over $75,000 in the previous year just on printing and distribution and asked that I look for new ways to lower that cost. Then, and only then, would he consider bringing on additions to the staff.
The lesson here is that a printed solution doesn't scale well. It's fine for a small user base, but as that base grows, a printed solution adds up to real money.
In the end, we went back to giving one manual with the purchase of the product and gave away newer versions of the docs on-line to keep customers satisfied. We increased our update schedule to every month, and hired the extra engineer.
___
Oddly enough, I generally find the man pages that come with the assorted free software that I much prefer to be comprehensive and useful. Go figure.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Manual comes from Middle English manuel, from Middle French, from Latin manualis, from manus hand. So etymologically, manual (in the adjective form) refers to something relating to, or involving the hands. Now, when we move to manual as a noun, it has taken on the meaning of a book. It is a special kind of book though, "a book that is conveniently handled; especially : HANDBOOK." Further, a handbook is "a book capable of being conveniently carried as a ready reference." (Handbook goes back to manual; they are synonymous.) From what we have learned now, a manual is something that you take with you and can easily be used in your hands. That is why they have so much over anything on a computer. Many have already said that the computers are not portable, they hurt your eyes etc so I won't go into that.
I dislike even the ebook devices (whatever they are called.) A book is a book and nothing else will ever be a book. It is something that can't be compared, you can scribble on it (as said in other posts), you can put your own markers in it to "search to," and the feeling of holding and reading a book is something special unlike anything else.
Excuse me if I babbled too much.
In addition to all the very important points raised by everyone concerning the need for printed manuals, there's the small (but growing, and important) audience of observant Jews who, by Jewish law, are unable to use electricity on Shabbat (Friday night -> Saturday night, our weekly holy day) and certain other festival days. It's nice to have a printed, bound manual to read to pass some time on those days.
When a manual goes paperless, many decisions need to be taken into consideration: format (pdf, html, text, ms word, etc), screen res of the user, searchablitly, etc. The format should be an easy choice, for the most widely usable, HTML should be picked. Now the screen res is the hardest one. There have been many times when reading HTML docs theat the info I needed was in two places, in the viewable area of the page and just outside of the viewable area, on a res of 1280x1024. This is probably the most annoying thing of them all, well except for a format I can't read. Some times the searchablity of paperless docs leaves a lot to be desired.
Now with printed docs, anybody can read them, unless you don't know how to read or are blind... both are unlikly if your using a computer. The printed docs are always a good idea, for example, what if your program to read the paperless docs doesn't work correctly are is completly broken... guess your stuck until you fix the problem with your program. Printed docs are easier to find things in usually, with both the contents and the index.
I think it is clear that I prefer the printed manual over a paperless manual. Although if I had to have what I would really like is both... the uncut full blown docs in a pronted form and a paperless version that is fully searchable.
When I'm trying to get up to speed on a particular system, I'll often read/skim the manuals from front to back. You simply can't do that with on-line docs, for two reasons:
1) Reading off a monitor sucks for long periods of time.
2) The organization of on-line docs sucks. You get the added benefit of hyperlinking, but you get the negative aspect that usually people don't put the time into organizing the docs into a linear way that can be read cover to cover.
Other than that, it's also way easier to use a manual that I can keep open to relevent pages while I'm programming on the system. I guess a two-monitor set-up might work, but... it's just not the same.
--
Anyway, people (and the environment) shouldn't have to pay for all the cases when printed manuals is not really needed. At the same time, eye strain (from CRTs) shouldn't stop us techies from learning about the products we use.
Just my 0.02 EUR
Acts@core.mailboks.com Acrux@core.mailboks.com Adam@core.mailboks.com Adar@core.mailboks.com Ada@core.mailboks.com
- Paper is easier to read.
- Paper doesn't rely on a computer to be read.
- Paper is easier to search.
I question these arguements. How is paper easier to read? Text is text. Perhaps you don't have the proper monitor settings or perhaps your OS doesn't have pretty fonts or text anti-aliasing or whatever but I just don't buy this arguement. Text on a monitor is as easy to read, _to me_, as it is on paper. Second arguement, you don't have to be near your computer to read a manual. True, but you can also print out the electronic version if you so desire, since you might like paper better anyway? Also, when do you need to read the manual and not be near the computer? Personally I haven't had this experience though I don't doubt that it happens. Third, paper is certainly NOT easier to search through than electronically. I can't count the number of times the index or the appendix of a book has been just a page or two off and I've had to read a couple of pages just to find that one sentence I'm looking for. How can anyone justify this claim? Electronic documents allow precise searching, paper doesn't, end of story.Perhaps I'm just being flamebait when I say that this sort of "reverence" to paper is outdated. Isn't the goal of all this electronic stuff to have a paperless office, to save some trees and keep the rainforest around a little longer? At least until we all want mahogany computer furniture that is. It might be a sad fact to you but I rejoice when I realize that paper has it's uses but not here. PDF's, HTML, SGML, XML, anyformatwhatsoever, heck even just
The next remark is false. The previous remark is true.
One problem I have is that a lot of these manuals are Windows binaries, even if the information inside is just general specs.
So, for now, I have to get paper docs as an alternative to this.
While I personally prefer documentation in plain text, HTML or postscript, only a few vendors that I deal with have taken the steps to conver all thier documentation to this and making it available for download on thier web site.
- Serge Wroclawski
Actually, one of the secrets of being technically savvy, and not having to refer to the manuals is skimming through the manuals of software when you first acquire it, before using it...
--Arcum
I would never give up printed manuals. Especially for long reads, who wants to keep scrolling the page and end up with bloodshot eyes? I also think for tutorials, the online stuff can be very agitating, having to switch back and forth windows. Another thing I like to do is have 2 or 3 books open at one time, spread out in front of me so I can scan them all at the same time. While the text searching in electronic media is nice I still see the printed version to be better in the long run. If I find an online manual I usually just end up going to work and printing the entire thing out and then using the hole puncher and putting that in a binder. This is not as great as an actual bound book but it is better than the screen in my opinion. Taking notes in books is also a common thing for me to do. I then have that book forever with my notes so that if I scan through it later on I can read my own stuff. With electronic version you either can't take notes or you will have a different copy by the time you go back to check on something and your notes will be gone.
Later,
-Atlas-
-------------------------------------------------
"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind."
I much prefer printed docs to electronic ones, and I run two monitors. I think what most of the places turning to "e-manuals" really want to do is screw producing a serious manual altogether, and leace it to O'Reilly et. al., who will do better jobs anyway.
I still remember buying Autocad R10, it came with a hardcover manual the size of an encyclopedia and was about as info-packed. Now you spend $800 for Office 2kPro and all you get is a CD with a damn talking paperclip...
-cwk.
As a software vendor, I can describe what we
actually do, and why:
(1) We build HTML and PDF using LaTeX (single source is important).
(2) HTML goes on our WWW site
(3) PDF goes on both our WWW site and our shipping software, which incidentally is also delivered electronically.
(4) Most customers print one or two copies of the PDF docs.
This means that we (the software vendor) only
produce electronic docs, but customers can
have as many printed ones as they like. PDF
really is just as good as printed copy -- just
print it to get beautiful output.
There are major advantages to this approach:
(1) No printing cost to the ISV (minor to the user)
(2) No or lower shipping cost
(3) No documentation inventory. This is a big
problem if you have a rapid development
cycle.
(4) Much faster delivery of current docs.
I simply can't imagine why anyone would want to receive bulky paper manuals! If you want it printed (and I can relate), just print as many copies as you like from a nicely formatted PDF..
:-)
-- Idan
The decision to make printed documentation available should be entirely based on the type of software/service being offered.
If the product is an application aimed at home users who are not particularly technical (eg. tax software, games etc), then there should definately be some sort of printed manual.
But if it is a product that is aimed solely at an audience that should be proficient in reading/searching digital documentation (ex. Oracle, VMWare or anything else that non-compuer literate people have no business installing), the there really isn't a need to waste money/materials on printed manuals.
...but I could be wrong...
"Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos!"
printed manuals are fine, but companies should provide pdf's as well.
unfortunately, most companies do not generate appropriate bookmarks.
4d (mac/win rdms) provides some fantastic pdf-based manuals (the huge language reference is indispensable).
rarely use on-line help, it usually sucks...
html documentation drives me insane, i cannot stand installers littering my file system with thousands of files when a single pdf would suffice!
On-Line help can be pretty handy, but there is a difference how your brain absorbs information when using paper or a screen.
Reading from paper tends to be more relaxing than reading from a screen, therefore most people prefer to use paper manuals.
I myself remember paper information better. When it gets technical (i.e. looking up how that pointer-to-a-method-in-C++-works) I like to read from paper, as I forget within one second what I just read. With paper you can lookup the info more quickly, while on a screen I usually have to re-open some window again.
So my statement here is: kill those trees! ;)
Bizar technology?
The few times when I actually bother to RTFM, I almost always print it out first.
Three cheers for paper and ink!
Got Rhinos?
A cd-rom manual from Creative. It was on about 250 pages. And told me nothing I could need. And that in 6 different languages..
A HP8100 cdrecorder manual. I could not help me when I had problems with my cdrom under Win95 and win98. It only told me which keys to press when I was going to install the driver.. There should be help with the program..
24 + 130 pages of speaker manuals that I didn't need. And that I doesn't think anyone need (Creative)
And I keept
four manuals (o'Reilly) of about 1000 pages..
My mainboard manual, screen manual, PCI128 (creative sb), 1502AP scsi controller. I keept them mostly for tech specs.
And what does this tell me? Well I think it tells me that those who print manuals have to think twice before printing... On the other hand they must try to get out "paperback" info that is good "paperback info".
So what do I want in paperback? Well I want tech-specs, guides on how to code and principles behind programs (HOWTOS??)
Personally, when it comes to loading software, my personal motto is 'install now, read later'. Of course that's just my opinion. However, I have quite a large collection of programming manuals, ranging from PHP to Java to C++. Unlike advanced software, which you can sometimes figure out very quickly, programming languages have to be learned by the book, if not by a real teacher. Also, even for end-user software, a book is much easier to browse and navigate than a group of PDF or HTML files.
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Perversely greped and groped by PowerPenguin
Are they dead? probably. Would I buy a product with them ober oen withotu them? Absolutely. Prinetd mnauals are a necessity to me. I have to take these PDFs out and have them printed and bound at Kinkos these days which costs me another $20- $50 dependign on the size of the book. Frankly I resent that because its not like the software has gotten any cheaper.
I have been a PC computer technician now for about four years, and if there's one thing I just can't stand about companies and their products is the "See the HELPMR.PDF file for details."
.PDF file when I can't get the drive workin' in the first place?!?
.PDF files are hilarious...just read them some time. You'll find questions like "What if my computer doesn't turn on after installing so-and-so?" "What if my CD-ROM drive or Hard Drive are unreadable after installing so-and-so?" How in the world would I be reading a .PDF if I can't get the computer working?!?
First off, if I have some in-depth question I need answered, I need to do some in-depth reading. I can't do that on the computer screen! My eyes would go blind if I studied an on-line manual to try and figure out what to do!
Second off, search modes for PDF files don't do crap when you need to figure out exactly what's wrong. Say I'm installing something like, oh, say a DVD Decoder card for a DVD drive I bought, but it's not decoding the movies. I need to figure out why. Well, open up good ol' AcroRead, type in the search field "Specs," and I'll have to wade through countless hits of the word "Specs," often not finding what I need. Well, I need to get more specific, but if I get too specific, I won't find what I'm looking for. Often times the only way I can find something is to do the same thing I do in any other printed manual: go to the index or table of contents.
And most importantly, and I STRESS this above the rest, If the computer doesn't work, I ***NEED*** printed documentation!!! I hate trying to install something new on someone's computer only to find that it hoses the computer, and there's no frickin' way to find out what's wrong because I have to get the computer on to find out what's wrong! What if I'm installing a new CD-ROM Drive? If it doesn't work, how am I supposed to get to a
I tell ya, some of those
If someone is buying a boxed product, there NEEDS to be a printed manual with at least semi-detailed instructions. You don't have to enclose a 300 page manual, but look at the TI-8x or TI-9x series of calculators. Not only do you buy the calculator, but you also get a nice 200 page paperback explaining how it works. Imagine if you bought the calculator and it came with "If you wish to get instructions, please go to www.ti.com/support/ti/8x and print the 200 page manual."
Personally I think PDF is one of the worst standards on the Interent. it gives you little control over how you view the manual. I hate being stuck with using acrobat reader and its forced page layout.
An exact replica of the printed page is not the ideal way to read a manual on the screen. I am in favour of man Files or better yet graphical man file browsers or windows style help which allows graphics but does not force a paper centric layout.
While now I have a 1280 * 1024 monitor I dont hate PDF quite so much I still think trying to read something which is layed out for typesetting at paper resolutions it very annoying and has caused me to really hate PDF.
Jason
The apparent need for printed manuals is primarily because the increase in information "real estate" they provide. One of the most useful features of the *nix desktops is the multiple virtual desktop feature. I usually set my up so that Ctrl+Up moves me one desktop up, Ctrl+Left one desktop to the left, and so on (I use KDE or Enlightenemnt+Gnome, depending on my mood). This combined with a 19" monitor is actually better than printed docs because my monitor is actually bigger than a book. I open the docs on one desktop, and the program in another, and flip between them with the Ctrl+arrow keys. I say, quit killing trees!
There are, unfortunately, times when the only viable manual isn't even reachable -- for example, when troubleshooting the installation of an application. If you didn't quite install it properly (or something was fubared), the manual might not even be there for you unless you have a paper copy.
As well, I for one constantly print paper copies of online documentation so that I can take it home from work, for example. With the growing popularity of VPNs from home at my place of work, this will soon become unnecessary, but I'll probably still do it anyway; sometimes it's just easier to read something on paper than it is to read it on a screen (especially after having stared at a screen all day).
meisenst
Green's Law of Debate: Anything is possible if you don't know what you're talking about.
I would want printed documentation for any full-screen app, too.
--
No one reads manuals, anyway -- damn, this joke doesn't fit here in Slashdot. Ill try another forum.
/. /. /.
calo:~$ man
fgets: Is a directory
Error reading man page
No manual entry for
calo:~$
This space left intentionally blank.
Until recently I worked in a software publisher. We, and I am sure every other publisher, had the same debate from time to time.
The answer to your question depends on your users and the industry/use that your software is targeted at. The way to find out is to explain the trade-offs to some of your users, and to ask their opinion.
Here are some of the trade-offs:
1. Time to market is longer. This is because the lead time for printing is longer than the lead time for pressing CD's or putting the software on the net. The normal course of events seems to be that the software is still changing in small subtle ways until very very shortly before it is shipped. This is natural since the more time you have the more bugs you . Leads to mismatches between software and manuals.
2. Over time, the manuals lag the software. Printing is expensive compared to online, so naturally when a minor revision of the software is introduced, the manual gains an addendum.
3. Printed manuals improve the perception of value of software because they are visible. Even if they are never used, users attach value to them. Online manuals can't be seen - much lower value.
4. Manuals make the software cost more.
After talking to our users, some of the conclusions that we reached:
- The installation notes and troubleshooting should definitely be on paper (nice online too).
- Basic intro tutorials are better on paper, but can be pushed to online. If you make the tutorial interactive with the software then this is best, and obviously can't be duplicated on paper.
- If you put it online, don't use pdf. Athough this prints out nicely, most people are not going to print out the whole manual. You send the message 'This is online because we are cheap' and not 'This online because it is most useful like this' when you use pdf. Use HTML or some similar screen-based format. There is one exception to this: If your software contains elements that many users will want access to - for instance a workbook accompanying educational material - then this is useful both as a photocopiable original and pdf.
- Make sure that the online material is searchable. Document the method in the paper portions.
In the educational software industry having the reference material on paper as well as online is important enough to the users that most indicate that they would pay extra for it.
My personal viewpoint. Most manuals are more useful online than offline. Binders sound nice until the pages get torn out. I like to be able to search the reference material.
Hope that helps,
Jeff Veit
1. Eye Strain. Display technology is making leaps and bounds, but I STILL feel a bit odd after looking at a computer screen of more than a few hours. Manuals can place a bit of variety in this. ;-)
2. The "Bog" factor. Manuals can go *many* places a computer/laptop couldn't. Be it bed/toilet/train.
3. The multiplicity factor. If my desk is big enough, I can have 4 manuals open at the same time and cross reference between them. This can be very useful at times - try doing this on a 14" monitor.
4. The failure factor. If all else fails, and my system goes down in flames, the paper manual will still be there.
That said, there are a *lot* of advantages of having "online" manuals. I predict that "online" manuals will eventually phase out the paper ones, but only when the following conditions are met, negating my previous gripes.
1. When display technology gets good enough for me not to notice the difference between laser printed paper ( >600 dpi) and a VDU (be it LCD, LEP - whatever)
2. When there exists computer systems that are light, convienent and rugged enough to survive as well as paper manuals in various places. I suppose an advanced enough "e-book" style device might do here.
3. When the aforementioned "e-book" systems are cheap enough for me to have multiple units.
4. The "e-book" systems *have* to be extremely reliable - no running out of batteries at the wrong time, etc. etc.
Its only when these, and more, conditions are met will we see the phasing out of the demand for paper manuals. That said, I think we will have the change forced upon us before that time, simply because its a way for the software companies to save a few pence. *sigh* Time to get new glasses....;-)
...so long as one of your topics isn't, "What to Do if Your Computer Won't Boot."
Sorry, but hardcopy is essential. In addition to the highliter and penguin doodle features that I have found to be so popular amongst my surveyed group (my cat and I, and the cat's asleep) there is what I like to call the "thinking time" feature. Honestly, who wants to lug a laptop into the can with them when they hanker down for some good old fashioned thinking time? This is when I do the vast majority of my documentation reading. What one does with the paper after finishing is left as an exercise to the reader.
You need the printed manaul when:
1.Your computer is dead
2.You dont feel like switching between the two programs (help and the one you need help with)
3.You want to read the manual to find all the hidden features. Reading on a computer screen is a strain on the eyes and is generally done sitting up, which is not a preferreed way to read. (at least for me)
You want a computer manual when:
1.It is highly interactive with the program you need help with (i.e. shows you how to do something by example)
2.You want to search for a term. (no book's index is perfect)
3.You know you'll lose the hardcopy in your endless pile of manuals.
As someone who writes documentation for software apps, PDF's are my choice for distribution. The fact is, paper docs are expensive both to produce and to ship. With PDF, the docs can be viewed online, or printed out, which ever is preferred by the user, without losing the formatting and design that would have gone into a book. PDF also allows you to print just the pages you need, rather than an entire 70 or 80 page book. My goal is writing usable documentation that HELPS the user do what he/she needs to do with the software. That means keeping in mind that different people learn different ways, absorb information differently. PDF's give users the option of how to read the documentation, and make creating the documentation quicker and faster for me.
The advantages of online documentation are:
- Searchable.
- Copy and paste examples straight into the application.
- Follow the trail of purple links to see where you've been before (one could do this with books, but I don't like mutilating/marking them)
- Link out to relevant web sites.
- Download the latest changes and updates.
- Always available, your co-workers haven't 'borrowed' it.
- Results in cheaper software since I'm not paying for a dead tree.
Offtopic: The one thing that really annoys me about most documentation (printed or online), is that there is frequently no introductory text telling you what this product is for. It is irritating to find a piece of software called "GrokMaster 2000" and look at docs, and find the functionality of everything spelled out in minute detail, yet be totally mystified as to what the program is actually for.Slashdot monitor for your Mozilla sidebar or Active Desktop.
this is simple:
Online documentation doesn't do anyone any good when they need it.
period.
If i'm installing my latest copy of XYZ program and it crashes my computer, what am i going to do then? if i can't get to the text file on the CD cause my computer doesn't work (ditto for help on websites, although trying to find help on a website with a WORKING computer is hard) i'm SOL. I will always want the hard copy manual in my hands, i can flip through it, etc.
To me, a program is like a complex machine. I wouldn't rebuild my engine if the diagrams for the fan belts were explained on a tape in the car radio.
I have even gone so far as to print out the ENTIRE FreeBSD user's manual - all 476 pages of it. It was worth it. I would buy linux in the store over downloading it, cause for $20 you get a 500 page manual.
Give me the manual. Anyday, and twice on sunday (happy easter).
~zero
insert clever line here
sig?
Do i like paper manuals?
Well once i tried to get rob/jeff to mail me a copy of slashdot.
does that count?
insert clever line here
sig?
Seth
$5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
*NOTE* I hate reading online documentation. I much prefer to read printed documentation.
Ya can't use em if your box has crashed.
Don't call my crazy, that's what they called me back in the home!
For one, i enjoy reading a book. It's nice to have something in my hands, and when you get a book from the library it has that smell, like a million people read it before you. I would hate to be working tech-support when there are only digital manuals for a OS's.
I just got a ethernet hub that came with a 30 page manual (pretty impressive for such a simple device). I read it from cover to cover. The book even went so far as to explain how to crimp RJ-45 cables.
Another good point is that when our LUG had a 'Linux Demo' day at Best Buy, the 'average' (ie not geek) people who were walking up to the table and getting intrested in the stuff generally wanted to buy the distros rather than get them off of cheapbytes or ftp. I asked one guy and he said it was because of the manual. I told him that there is html versions of it on the CDs but he said "yeah, but I can't take it on planes and to parks with me". I think people like dead tree versions more, even so much as to buy a $60 linux distro.
Jordan Bettis
``Wherever you go, there's another stupid sigfile quote.''Computers are getting to the point where they will be everywhere very soon. So you can load the manual of the software you're working on to your handheld computer, you can take it anywhere you could take the print manual.
Read the manual in the bathroom? Sure. Just don't drop the computer... :-)
Steve
Whether there should be printed documentation avaiable depends on the product.
Hardware, for instance, should come with thourough printed documentation, at the very least an installation guide/troubleshooter. Whenever you are trying to address a hardware-problem that requries the power to be turned off, you shouldn't have to boot the PC to read the manual.
Software, on the other hand, may rely entirely on electronic documentation. Creating a HTML-manual with a Java search-applet (like the one Macromedia Dreamweaver has) is in most cases sufficient. However, some complex programs and operating systems should have some sort of printed manual as well - guess one has to value that individually for the product in question. There are important advantages electronic documentation has versus good 'ol printed manuals - seen from both author and customer perspectives.
Cost
Maintainability
Speed
However, I do recognize the fact that written manuals are better for the eyes, and that in some cases are prefferable since they are portable (you can read it on the bus). But hey, are you reading manuals on buses? I prefer books ..
Well, IMHO anyway ...
Personally, I don't think I'd buy a product unless it came with a thorough hard copy manual or that didn't have an O'Reilly book out for it. It is irritating to have to print out the manual, or read it while sitting at the computer. Besides, if all the new computer products had solely electronic manuals, what would we read while sitting on the toilet? Just a thought...
I purchased Visual C++ 1.5 (windows 3.11), and it came with a complete MFC reference. The box was huge and heavy, and it also came with online manuals. The manuals were nice and convenient. A while ago I bought Visual C++ 5.0 which came with practically no printed material. I do like the online manuals, but I also like the printed ones.
Version 5 wasn't any cheaper despite the lack of printed manuals (It might have been more expensive for the same product class (professional)).
He who knows not, and knows he knows not is a wise man
When I got my first copy of Macromedia Drictor I got a discount for getting it with out paper documents. I think it saved 50-100 bucks. All the documentation was provided in html on the cd and in the help file.
It was just fine for me. But I think that the customer should be given the choice. Some people handle different types of documentation differently.
I work in an ATM control center, and all our documentation, ref materials, sytem manuels, ect are on the intranet for the company. This is really great because it takes no time at all to look stuff up. But my superiors (whoa there's an oxymoron) made me spend a couple of days printing and sorting over 3000 pages of docs because they were said that we wouldn't have it if the power went out. I attempted to explain that anything that prevented access to the network where our stuff is would also prevent access to any tools we use to monitor and control our switches, but we all know how that works. Anyway my point is paperless is great assuming you are capible of accessing it.
My belief is that printed manuals should be included for some things, but not for others. For instance, an online manual for a CD-rom drive on a CD is basically useless and pointless. As well, as many other things. It's almost as bad as "Keyboard Error: Press F1 to continue".
For games, online manuals are fine. Reference cards are a nice bonus, and I DO like a manual, but it's not neccesary. If you want an example of a great setup for manuals and schtuff, look at any of the Heroes of Might and Magic games. A manual with anything you'd ever want, reference cards for everything, and a few other things.
And if you are going for online manuals, go HTML. I hate PDF!
-- Bandit450...If-Else-Do-*TWITCH*!
Definitely have the online manuals available in a portable (HTML/PDF) format. Now that Adobe's released a Java PDF viewer, you can even view on PDAs (I'm using a Clio for now, until DayTrippers hit the streets...).
As pointed out in other responses, O'Reilly, IBM (ref. VAJava and DB2) and other organizations have bundled compact search tools for their online documentation as part of their online documents. YMMV, of course, but at least they're available...
The paper manuals need to be accessible, but optional. Have them be a separate order, don't charge for them, and have much fewer units in stock. Only ship as many as you get responses for. Save trees. Onward the green revolution! :-)
In a lot of cases, if you can't get the software/hardware to work, you won't be able to access online manuals to figure out what you're doing wrong. Printed manuals are likely to be more comforting to those users not familiar with their computers or operating systems. You can take long manuals with you when you're travelling, if you want. For any non-trivial software, and all hardware, I definitely want the vendor to provide a printed manual. Assuming, of course, the software isn't downloaded off the internet. In that case, procuring a hard copy of the manual is more trouble than it's worth.
[We Have No Product] [The Swindle
...put the docs on the CD in PDF or whatever, and offer the printed docs as a seperate bundle. The cost of the software itself is lowered by the amount that the docs cost seperately. Those who want them, can get them. Those who don't want them don't get them. Simple. I myself, however, demand printed documentation. I cannot easily, for example, mark up a CD. Or mark it up and pass it around the office. Or take it to the can. That having been said, Palm Pilot formatted docs would be nice; I guess now that PDF is being integrated into PalmOS it's done and done.
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
Ah, I was afraid that no one had made that point on online reference and I was too late to fit it in anywhere. Thank you!.
I have had numerous problems with spreadsheets, image proccessing programs and others where I want it to do something, but I don't know what they would call it. And since the help often only searches by the first word of the term they have choosen to use, the online help is almost as frustrating as just trying different things until something works. I find it much easier to browse for something in a paper manual, especially if its a "I'll know it when I see it" situation.
-Kahuna Burger
...will work for Chick tracts...
Bantik, I think you have to be aware of the fact that the response you get from here is going to be fairly skewed. The vast majority of people reading and contribution to slashdot are very technically savvy, and probably never read manuals or even in-program help files. So the advice they give you isn't going to be very applicable to your situation as a whole (unless your company makes very high-level software that's used exclusively by professionals, and very savvy ones at that)..so keep in mind if you were to ask this at a local flea market you'd be getting different responses..it all depends on what audience your company is targeting.
A good alternative would be palmtop docs: I've already used my PalmV for reading docs. They're great for use in a train or somewhere else too! (And it saves paper)
Speaking of which... what does the "SysRq" key (under "Print Screen" (which I have figured out)) do?
--
I hope paper manuals will never die. They really do provide a good way to read about the program. First, I don't have a Palm or laptop (yet, come on Birthday!) so when I fly or travel long distance in a car (like going home from college) I like to read. That's the obivious one. The not-so obivious advangate to paper manuals is the fact that I can read them while working on the very program. I like mult-tasking outside of my computer. I will keep the manual in my lap or on the side of my desk and work and read and generally get my work done easyily without having to look up in some help. I admit there are some nice things about electronic help. But for the most part I prefer a paper manual to anything else.
One thing you (person who asked the question) should keep in mind is a paper manual gives the consumers another reason to buy your product. I know when I was young I would warez games and stuff. Every game except flight simulators. That was because they didn't come with manuals if you pirated them. I bought those. Nowadays I've matured (at least I like to think so) and I buy all my software. I simply hate opening up a new game and just seeing a cd jewrel, no manual or anything except a registration card (Microsoft Motorcross Maddness). Paper manuals are a great way to add value to your package. I know I havn't bought a Microsoft game since I got ripped off like that. (That and I don't have Windows anymore). It seperates yourself from others when you give your consumers a good deal and treat them right.
Open Source, Open Standards, Open Minds
I also ways have paper manuals around you never know when a hard drive is going to crash, it also have good have for those long bowl movements.
--end of line--
Give me printed or good HTML manuals any day - I hate being forced to install Acrobat vWhatever just because somebody thought it would be a good idea to only put manuals out in pdf. Learn to use HTML! Takes more work, but is much better in the end.
A three hour tour, A three hour tour......
I feel pdf is one of the worst formats for reading online. man/Html-docs are much better imho. That's not really a problem with pdf, but more a problem with the viewer... It's ok to provide pdf-docs, but then they should be intended for printing, while online help should be in a different format.
Also it depends on the type of software/user interface. If you have a small screen, it's often better to have tutorials/reference in a ring-bound compendium that you can leave open by you workstation. And, ofcourse, it's better to have a book if you're into reading manuals in bed...
For commerical software, I think it should be a requirement.
.. uh used. If you are going to download it, there is no sense in paying good money for it (see usenet, irc, ftp://free_porn.slashdot.org). It just doesn't make sense, this is the same with free (as in speech) software, you won't pay to download a Linux distro would you? You pay for the manuals, cd-rom, support, etc...
.001 seconds! WTF? If you are sitting at a computer you should be using that time at the computer to do something active and productive (this rules excludes slashdot of corse :)
First, depending on the software, one may or may not have direct acess to the online help (for example a Unix OS, where all man pages aren't accessiable before the install, but are require for the install (fdisk help for example))
Second, not everyone spends 20 hours per day at their workstation, sometimes you have to leave your computer and relax your eyes/stiff limbs from the glowing screen and the rigid chair, books/manuals and couches can help a lot here, while still being able to learn about computers while not directly in front of them.
Thrid, if it is a piece of "typical" commerical software, it will have a restricted license, limiting the number of workstations you can install it on. If the help manaul is inside the software and requires the software to be installed before the help menu is viewable (think commerical boxed Windows software) then only 1 person can learn the software at a time. It more then one person will be accessing the workstation to use the software (which is normally legal), then only one person can learn the software while the others will have to wait. For example, in an accounting or billing department, you might have one workstation that holds the records for XYZ service/product (think smaller company), but 2-10 people that must learn this software (admin, billing person, manager, account, tech support), it will slow them down a lot. But if you had a printed manual it would be more avaiable, have the billing person learn it from the workstation during normal business hours, have the manager read the manual during normal business hours, and have the admin learn it during off hours (or typically the admin would have to learn it first, for installation/setup purposes.)
Also, just a personally glitch of mine is companies that only have their software/manuals downloadable via the web like koz^H^H^H some of the companies I have deal with. This is REALLY fscking annony, a CD-ROM is hell of a lot faster than a network connection, and a book is more readily avaiable (ie, I can read it in the john if I should choose to do so (I don't (what do you think those dilbert books are for(then again
hearing laughter from the bathroom after someone has been in there a while can seem weird)))) sorry for the '()' (does this mean I know lisp now?)
Seriously I (actucally my company) has paid in the thousands of dollars for some software and what do I get in return? A short email with a license key and a message that says "CLICK HERE" to download.
WTF?? If I (actucally my company) pays thousands, or even hundards of dollars for something, it better be something that I can HOLD in my HANDS and look at. It better be something REAL, not some download.
For example, I don't mind shelling out my personal hard earned money for a Linux or *BSD distro, but when I do, it better be something that I can hold, it better be a nice box set, cool looking CD's and a quality manual (and optional stickers, buttons and/or t-shirts and possiable hot grits that could be insert into things like pants and such (even though I am not into grits or grits in my pants)). That is the point of the Linux distro, you pay for the cd-roms and printed manual. Hell who wants to download the 6+ Gig SuSE Linux distro over a network connection, screw that
I see it like this, software is a lot like porn (let me make my point before you screw me on karma). With porn, if you shell out money for it, you better get a tape, video/dvd or other. If you spend good money on porn, it better be a physical media. But if you just download the porn you can't touch it, you can't share it with freinds, you can't take it to the waiting room of a doctors office, it is on your hard drive and THAT is the only place where it can be
I know that commerical software is a lot differant in this aspect, but it FEELS like a rip off to get "nothing" you can actucally hold after paying big $$ just to download and have a license key sent to you.
Include a printed manual, include a really good one.
In general, I don't think printed manuals will die (for commerical or free software), take a look at http://www.ora.org, and tell me, do you think users like printed manuals? O'Reilly seems to making a lot of money on printed manauls, because it makes users fell all warn and fuzzy inside. Your company wants to kill this part of your product? Do you think that is a good idea? Maybe if you don't include a printed manual O'Reilly/SAMS/Playboy will take it upon themselves to write a book on it for themselves (and reap the benifits (ie. money)) to fill this "gapping hole" in your product (assuming they don't include the manual that it)
And most important, who wants to spend 300+ hours starring at a computer screen reading 1000+ pages off a 15 inch monitor? Hell, sit back on the couch, relax, grab a beer and reading about the wonders of Sendmail can be quite enjoyable, where sitting "passivly" at a computer seems like such a waste of computing power.
My quad 1Ghz proc system with 4 gigs of ram can scroll 100 pages in AcroReader in under
Plus, if the manuals are online/cdrom the user will get distracted and start posting to slashdot about the ill-thought-out ideas of not including a printed manual with software products...
The only good online documents (for software) is the man pages, everything else sucks. Even the how-to's suck online, they need to be shoved though a printer before they can become great documents. Online how-to's suck, printed from an old dot matrix printer they are the best resouce, who would of thought? Howto's gain a Magic Power when printed.
If your software is for Unix make sure you man page is extremely well put together (read OpenBSD), because man pages are the only documents that should be in the computer (as far as software documenation and FAQ's) then make sure all your other document is included in a printed manual.
"`Ford, you're turning into a penguin. Stop it.'" -THHGTTG
I don't really like printed manuals, but I hate online manuals in strange formats. IMHO, the best online manuals are contained entirely on the CD and require no internet connection. Generally, I've found that when I need to read the manual, something isn't working. Possibly the internet connection, or the fancy document viewing software. In other words, Keep It Simple, Stupid.
I'm getting to the point where I don't care what format the documentation comes in as long as there is documentation. Good (or even mediocre) documentation is hard to find in any format! I'd settle for paper or online so long as it's there and useful.
The fact that you can't read probably explains your horrific grammar and spelling in your post. I suppose paper docs can be good if for no other reason than to teach people what real, written English looks like.
For most software I prefer paperless manuals. It is quite useful to be able to search. The exception is for compilers. I want both online and a paper referene manual. The online is especially useful if their are code snippets that can be cut and pasted. A good paper reference manual with lots of examples can not be replaced.
For hardware, anything other than a paper manual is annoying. When I have my computer open, I do not want to have to turn my computer back on to look something up. Well, usually I use one of my other machines, but sometimes all of my machines are in use. I find if hardware comes with only a paperless manual I always print it out. I find it annoying when I have to do something that the manufacturer should have provided.
I think I will never buy an AOpen motherboard for one reason that they do not come with a printed manual.
This message is encrypted with Quad ROT-13 to protect the author's copyright under the DMCA.
Think about it, if I only have an online copy of the manual for the moniter I want to install...
On the other hand, if I'm installing software, I'd rather have a search function...
This post is brought to you by the letters T and A, and the number 69
If you goto http://php.net/manual and check out how they organize their manual and allow users to actually improve on the manual. I think that is a wonderful way to keep users informed plus a good way for a company to get feedback on where improvements need to be made.
Ever need an online dictionary?
For details, I get better help from deja news, how-to pages (HTML or ASCII, pdfs only make things worse) or man pages than from a 1k + page book. But a map of what has to be done to complete an install is necessary. I just tried to go through my first Solaris install blind. No idea about when I have to tell it what kind of hardware I have, no clue when partitioning will take place. That was scary!
chris@xanadu:~$ whatis /.
/.: nothing appropriate.
But there's no good reason companies can't provide online docs along with the printed docs. They generally don't take up much space on a CD. And there are tools out there that make it easy to create documentation for both online and printed formats.
There's still the Toilet factor..(reading books and manuals on the bowl) and the Train factor.. It's just not convenient to fire up a laptop or even the PC to read a book or manual. Until HandHeld Ebooks which can read PDFs are a common thing, will print manuals be dead.
If you're not a Liberal in your 20's, then you have no heart.If you're still a Liberal in your 30's you have no brain.
I'm still in high school, but I have a shelf full of books that I would hate to give up! Besides the ability to take them where it would be inconvenient to have a computer, have any of you tried to learn a program while switching back and forth between the documentation and the actual program? Or even reading a manpage here and using the command there. It's just not practical. Yet.
The OS, BIOS, etc., software one needs to get a system running or to troubleshoot it should be very thoroughly documented on paper and be provided without extra charge with each system or software issue sold. Otherwise, we each have to buy two computers with CD-ROM drives and modems or we won't be able to operate, upgrade, or restore our systems. The high-end applications programs could go to on-disk software manuals, with paper manuals available at a reasonable profit to the manufacturer (no sense in giving the "Dummies" people a totally free ride,) but not be exclusively issued on CD-ROM. Online manuals are all right, but there should never be exclusively online manuals (Micros..t, are you listening?) because phone service in many places sucks and makes this form of tech help even less HELPful.
I have never seen such a thing, but how about having an introduction to the software, but through more interesting writing techniques, and on non-traditional manual subjects?
How about an extended interview with the chief software architect, or with pre-release users? How about a high-level discussion of what it is your software does, and why and how it does it? How about a discussion of technologies related to your software (for example, an HTML editor could include discussions of HTML, XML, HTTP and so on)?
What I'm driving at is, it would be possible, I think, to produce documentation that would be about the software, would provide very useful high-level information to any users, would engage, entertain and enlighten, and would be only appropriate as a print book. I could see printing such a manual as a cheap pocket-sized paperback, FWIW, which would be especially friendly to the transportation and cost issues.
I know I may be smoking something, but I want both - paper & paperless. For reading straight through, paper's always best... like other people have said, good luck taking an online manual to bed with you, or to the couch to read & watch tv at the same time. But at the same time, if I'm working on a program for class, and I've found one way to do it but don't like it, I find myself wishing I had an online version of my textbook so I could quickly search for simmilar code that does more of what I want it to.
And like others said, too... Binders Rule!
bathroom reading material with out 500 page manuals. Dont let me sink so low as to read the news paper while on the can.
If you go paperless, please don't choose PDF as your help format. For cross platform support, HTML is best, and it is kindest on the eyes. PDF is such a b**** to read on line. I sometimes think it stands for Pulling Down the Forest, because it only looks good when printed on a dead tree.
Even Microsoft abandoned proprietary help formats in Developer Studio, which has at least a full CD worth of HTML help.
I know there are tools out there to convert PDF to HTML. I understand they are a bit pricey, but if your company is serious about going paperless, it will be a wise investment.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
And if you actually get the service manual, you'll find all kinds of things in there like "the pitman arm must be removed with tool 56-A3523". Of course the tool is only available from the manufacturer, and most likely overpriced if it is even available to the general public.
Naturally, most of the time the tool can be substituted with some generic item purchased at a 3rd party auto parts store.
This, by the way, is what can happen when a business derives most of its revenue from service. Many dealers make little or no money on the actual sale of a car/truck. They rake it in on service, so they have little interest in making this easy for you. Of course what's really made cars difficult to service is emission controls, computers, airbags, air conditioners and other add-ons... but I digress.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
Borland I seem to recall were one of the first companies to provide the now ubiquitous IDE with stacks of online help. Due to the limitations of the machines at the time they couldn't offer too much help online so the manuals were still useful.
Now though online help for a lot of products is pretty comprehensive and when I look at the PDF files that contain what would have been the printed manual I think 'what is the point of having a manual when it contains no more information than the online help?'
If you provide a PDF manual that contains significant information that is not in the online help your customers will appreciate a printed copy of it. If it only repeats the online help but in a fancier typeface, save some trees and just give them the PDF. If you are in the former situation though I would have to question why that significant information isn't in your online help already?
--
I think that you should include a GOOD manual
(not:
Table of Contents:
Running the program.........page 1
index.......................page 1
Page 1:
Running the program: Go to start->programs->myprogram->run.
Index
Running the program......page 1)
It's good to be able to look off the screen (for some reason it seems easier to read a book). Right now screen space is important, and no program i've seen has included a help system that didn't waste screen space (well, maybe counterstrike, but it just uses short messages on the screen ('you have killed an enemy')). But if you do rely on online help, you need it to be easy to use and include everything that would be in a manual. A book-form help system would be useful (with table of contents, logical organization, index..).
They that quote Benjamin Franklin on liberty and safety deserve neither.
Any more than this, I don't think it's really necessary to automatically include full printed manuals with the product. Instead, I think it's better to give the buyer the option of buying the full manuals seperately, or just using the online help. This way they can get your manuals or buy them from a third party.
I think HP's printers are a good example. They all include a small manual that tells how to hook it up and get it running, as well as how to do some simple troubleshooting. There's information on part numbers for replacement parts, as well as a lot of contact info via telephone and the web. If you REALLY want to know the full capabilities of your printer, you can order a set of manuals on how to program it in mind boggling detail.
Another good example is games. They all come with a short manual on how to get them up and running, as well as what all the controls do. There's also some backstory to set the mood. If you want more information, you go get the strategy guide.
And now for one thing I really hate: PDF. I guess other people replying seem to like it, but I find it terribly annoying. I really like HTML documentation.
As far as your development efforts go, what you need to do is find some way of quickly generating your documentation from one source in many different formats, whether it be HTML, PDF (groan), or printed out.
Ask yourself whether the cost to the customer outways the additional price the customer must pay. In most cases, this boils down to two factors-- the type of manual and the type of user.
Is the manual designed as a tutorial? If so, most users will want to read only small sections at a time to glean one particular bit of information and will only want to do so a few times at most. This type of search is made much easier by the search facilities of electronic docs, particularly since users are unlikely to know exactly what they're looking for. Assuming you would sell a paperless package for less than a package containing printed manuals, it certainly looks to be in the customer's interest to forgo the manual.
Is the manual designed to be a reference? If so, most readers will consult rather broader sections many times. They'll want the ability to annotate, which is still best done on paper. They'll want the ability to peruse the docs for long periods of time, so that image quality becomes important. The cost of printed manuals is less important in this case because a well-done manual will allow the customer to avoid buying a 3rd party reference. In this case, it seems clearly in the customer's best interest to ship printed docs.
Is the software targeted at rank newbies or experienced hackers? Novice users will never open a printed manual and will rarely look at electronic docs. Shipping them printed manuals is generally a waste of paper. Power users are much more likely to crack a book, both because they're accustomed to looking in docs for answers rather than calling the help desk and because they have the necessary context to find the information via the table of contents or index. Power users are more likely to read or browse larger sections of documentation for longer periods, which means that printed docs are more useful.
Are the intended users more likely to be corporate or individuals? Corporate users are likely to have various support options available which they'll use before opening a book-- other workers, IT staff, help desks, etc. (Note that I accept rather than condone this behavior) Shipping them printed docs is pointless. Individuals are likely to have many fewer support options and will thus be more likely to use a printed manual if one is available.
Ask yourself how often the docs will be used and how. Then determine whether printed manuals or electronic documents are better suited to the task. It's unlikely that there's a blanket "correct" answer.
It depends on the software, but I know it is nice to have bathroom library material for stuff you may not want to devote other real reading time to, but do want to pick up on eventually. I mean, hey the bathroom is a great place to brush up on windows API calls you may have used only sparsely before. Come to think of it, java or C++ library documentation would make good bathroom reading material too... Forvalaka
nothing else beats a good paper reference when you're taking a crap.
and no, I don't care about ebooks or whatever priopetary devices... nothing compares to a paper manual.
I used to love sitting around reading manuals to my latest toy when I couldn't be at the computer. On the bus, in the bathroom, etc. When I was 12, I memorized the SimCity 2000 manual before I played the game. I had received the game for Christmas, but my family was visiting relatives about 1500 miles away from home. What would I have done if all the manuals were on disk? I would have stared at the cd cover, most likely.
Electronic-only manuals make troubleshooting and following tutorials a pain. Ever tried to follow a detailed tutorial switching back and forth between a PDF reader (PDF has its own evil problems, but I won't get into that now) and a complex application? Last I checked most readers don't include bookmark tools. Where are sticky notes when you need them?
Nothing can beat paper manuals so far.
Manuals that come with software should be phased out a little. 3rd party books are always so much better than manuals, and new software seems to be a lot more intuitive than before, making manuals something that I can Live Without.
BUT, if online documentation is moving towards that paper clip, then HOORAY for paper manuals!
One COULD say that with the sheer volume of helpful programs, texts, pdfs, etc, that the role of the hardcopy manual is minimal. But what if you can't access the electronic medium? what if the vital info you need to fix your unbootable machine is in that electronic format? What then? Stick with hardcopies, until every possible computer bug is fixed (sic).
You know there is going to be people (the ones that phone up dell asking "Did I get the wrong keyboard, 'cause I don't have an any key?") who can't even open the files off the CD or Internet site.
And what about when you try to install Acrobat or Netscape.
If we lose manuals, what do we replace RTFM with? Read The Fucking Online Documentation? Somehow RTFOD just doesnt do it for me..
It would be a great service if companies could junk print, because it takes a longer time to print and bind the books then it does to burn the CDs, so the result is you often have out-of-date manules. Thats why you see so many README files that say "contians information that could not be put into the manuel."
Paper manuels aren't dead; nay, its much easier to look through a printed out HOWTO then an electronic one. So I say junk the paper manuels, put it in PDF format (and include the PDF reader just in case) and let the end user decide if they want a print-out or not.
Perhaps this will change with higher resolution displays that are much easier on the eyes for reading and devices made specificly to read stuff off of. There are already things like that, and if they can read PDFs (which is pretty much standered right now), these things could really kill off paper once and for all.
Not a typewriter
Another problem with online manuals is that they're difficult to read whilst working with the program they document. When I'm consulting a manual as a reference/tutorial, I want to be able to work with the relevant program at the same time. Short of having two monitors, there is no good solution to this at present.
I like having printed manuals, their batteries do not wear out, and they can be taken anywhere.
Fight Spammers!
If the manual is a reference containing commands, codes, error messages, etc, then online documentation is fine. If it's detailed product information, installation/configuration, then I still want something on paper I can take the time to read. Trying to read a few hundred pages on a terminal is NOT the way to go, IMHO.
Manuals are great if it's a huge complicated program, but most of the stuff I buy, I hardly even glance at the manual. I just throw it in and run it. I think most of the time we should just have mini-manuals that fit in the cd jewel case. This way, you can just wrap up the jewel case and sell it instead of using huge amounts of packaging. I'm not a hug-a-tree freak, but I do think that there is huge waste in most of the packaging today.
- Affordable monitors do not provide the resolution and quality that you get from black print on white paper.
- You can't put the monitor on your lap and read comfortably while in your favorite armchair.
- Flipping through a book still is much easier than flipping through pages on screen.
Until these basic ergonomic problems are solved, there is no substitute for a printed manual. It's not likely that we are going to alter the human body enough to make it more convenient to read on-screen, so computers have a lot of catching up to do.If printed manuals are trly dead, why do we keep buying books from O'Reilly? I think that more than a few of us still rely heavily on the books O'Reilly provide and, to a large extent, those books are more along the lines of manuals for software that comes out with less than stellar documentation. I think that printed materials will still be around for a while because they can be referenced easily (yes, I know, the search function is better) and can be taken everywhere (I'm a big fan of reading O'reilly books while I'm travelling, as a refresher for some of the stuff I used to know)... TNL
Check out http://www.tnl.net/blog
you can always flip through a printed book while sitting on the toilet. Can't do that online unless you have a computer in the bathroom
The most effective solution is the one which is most convenient for the consumer. Give the cheap option away as default, but offer the more expensive option as an errr... option.
Seems reasonable..
I know this is a bit off-topic, but I do hope that, if you are buying a truck, its because you actually plan to use it as such. I mean, if your buying a pickup so that you can haul your house-trailer, carry your motorcycles, and transport lumber, that's all good and well. On the other hand, if your buying an S.U.V because you want the orgasmic power of torque under your ass and you want to feel bigger and tougher then everyone around you, then please consider the feelings of your fellow drivers and the environment (S.U.V's have lower emissions standards, as they are trucks). If you need it, buy it, just don't commute with the thing.
Printed manuals are neccasary today as they were before. Reading something from the screen is not as comftable as reading something which you can carry. Cycling from a program to another program to read helps is very stupid if you compare it to just lifting the manual and reading it. Give us manuals or give us bad programs.
kiku wa ittoki no haji kikanu wa matsudai no haji
I have no idea what's going to happen in the future, but printed manuals are far from dead in the here and now.
At least in my office we get very few printed manuals anymore, most everything is included as a PDF file. These PDFs then get printed late at night on our overworked HP and then the Kinko's downstairs 3 hole punches them and puts them in a binder for a couple bucks. It costs us probably 3 times as much as it would have cost the publisher to print it and the end result isn't as nice.
As to why we (and most everyone else does this) is simple. Its easier to read. You can annotate it easier. You can walk around with it. It doesn't take up valuable screen real estate.
So as far as I'm concerned, companies that provide their manuals on CD are just looking to save a few bucks and it bugs me.
+--------------------- You idiot! I told you we were facing the wrong way!
-
I know a lot people who bought CDs at cheapbytes and later bought exactly the same stuff, to get the printed manuals.
So do I.
I need to look up something, and not changing the screen.
CAN YOU SIMPLY TYPE THAT:
currenthour=`/bin/date +%H`
currentminute=`/bin/date +%M`
echo $currenthour:$currentminute:$offset > ~/awktmp
awk 'BEGIN { FS = ":"}
{
offset = $3
nexthour = $1 + offset
if (nexthour >= 24)
nexthour = nexthour - 24
if (nexthour = 13)
ampm = "am"
print nexthour":"$2ampm
}' ~/awktmp
rm ~/awktmp
and so on.... YOU remember all that stuff ???
I don't.
I have to look it up at times.
But I'm just coding, and I have all my monitors filled with other stuff I also need.
I can however get a book, search the index (yes, my fellow hackers, good books do have indices),
and find it.
Ever bought a new MOTHERBOARD ???
Well, my latest came with a CD.
On that CD a dozen m/b's were described, GREAT HELP !!
SOUNDCARD ???
Yep - don't get the bass and treble adjusting working (neither on Linux nor M$ Windows), and the CD refers to A DIFFERENT card.
Folks, get real, we need SOME paper.
All I described above, no more, no less.
I won't buy a Linux distro without paper.
And that stuff is the ONLY paper lying around here.
I certainly prefer to have a paper manual, simply because you can relax while you read a paper book, and I retain more when I'm enjoying myself with a book and a cup of coffee in my living room than when I'm reading at my computer.
But more importantly, I've *never* seen an electronic manual I've been helped by. PDF is a pain to look at when your dealing with a problem, MS-Help files are consistently badly written, for *any* program I've ever seen - to the point of being a waste of HD space to have. HTML file are an improvement over either one on average, but it's still a matter of trying to flip through information in one program while dealing with the program itself . . .
If an electronic document was written well, then I might be able to deal without it, but I've never seen one written well.
An Invisible Entity of Vast Power whose existence must be taken on faith alone: Liberal Media
I'm going against the general concensus here, and even my own deep-seated reading preferences, and saying dump the printed manuals. The reasons are purely environmental, and everyone who wants to keep them printed for whatever reason (like the guy who mentioned taking them to the john) is cultivating a dangerous and selfish attitude.
Computers have the promise of significantly reducing the amount of paper we use as a society, but so far they have actually increased consumption because so many of us print out every damn email aunt Millie sends us. Add this to the ever present excessive packaging and thousands of pages of (usually) useless manuals, and we're squandering one of our opportunities to actually do something good.
First, how many of the applications that you use actually require you to read the manual? 10%? 5%? Most software these days is pretty damn self-explanatory, even to the extreme novice ("Let's see if clicking 'SEND' sends my mail...").
Second, computer and software manuals are not in the same league as a cherished, leather-bound copy of 'Moby Dick'. Due to the constantly changing nature of technology all these books become obsolete in a few years, if not months. Then they go to the recycling bin (we hope), or worse, the landfill.
Third is the size. These books tend to be HUGE! Three years ago the manuals for Softimage took up 16 inches of shelf space, and since they've upgraded the program several times that's now all useless trash. Even my accounting program has 3 books & 500+ pages, and I damn well know that just about nobody is ever going to read them all.
The disadvantages behind online documentation are very real and I don't dispute them, but we have a social responsibility to use them even if it takes a little more effort. I hate separating my trash, I hate having to replace the catalytic converter on my car, and I hate not being able to throw garbage out my car window. But they are all necessary. I accept it because it is right.
The only exception, though, may be installation instructions (NOT user manuals) for hardware and OS'es. The reason for this should be pretty obvious.
-You can read it while doing something when you're not near a computer, i.e.: in bed, in a car, on a plane, in the waiting room of a dentist... -Some people hate having to look at computer screens to read. Printed text is much nicer. -It is much easier to flip pages (in my opinion) than to scroll and read. -It's easier to get to the index of a printed book than an online book most times.
I'm going to try to learn Linux this summer, and I know damn well that a good hard copy book will help big time. Sure, I have a copy of Sam's Teach Yourself Linux in 24 Hours in PDF format, but that won't help if I screw something up and it won't boot, period. And Adobe's acrobat reader is the only viewer that can render it worth a damn, and they don't have a search-capable PDF reader for Linux available. I could print it out, but that's really clumsy. 400 8.5"x11" pages without professional binding? Get real.
Having a hard copy of my motherboard's manual has saved my butt a lot of times. My HP48G calculator came with a 600-page user's guide, whereas the 49G's docs are mostly in PDF format at HP's website. Hard copy is just plain more convenient and easier to deal with. Flipping through pages is far easier with my fingers than with a mouse.
I need something to keep me entertained when I'm on the toilet!
Seriously, tho, if I buy software that only comes with a pdf manual, the first thing I am going to do is print it out so that I have a hard copy to work with. And if I'm paying quite a lot for software, I think that it's not too much to ask for the software company to spring for a solidly bound manual.
Printed manuals? Don't they come in bright colors with neat line drawings of animals on the cover? :)
Seriously, most of the software I use comes with a README, a mailing list, and that's it. I think that electronic documentation is completely appropriate for electronic products.
I personally can appreciate both. I like having a paper reference, but I can still go through online docs (if it's in a good format -- I prefer HTML or plaintext for efficency).
If a company were to save money by not printing the manuals and instead tossing it on the CD, then I say go for it, as long as the savings are passed on. Also, have the option of buying the book for a decent price. If the cost of writing the docs is included in the purchase price, then charge the printing fees (plus a modest profit) for the paper docs.
Just my views..
ok, paper manuals are essential, at least these are my feelings. with the online documentation you can be a little bit lighter on the printed manuals if you wish, but I dont think you should be. its just like theyve all said. there may be times when you cant get to your machine, but you would really like to be learning something new. And DO NOT do what packard bell did and put the entire manual on a cd....cuz ya know when your in the case trying to install a hard drive or something its real easy to just pop in a cd and check out the manuals. Anyways keep the printed manuals. sure you can print out all you may need, but thats such a pain in the *ss.
I prefer electronic versions for the searching capabilities. Other people may want printed manuals...for reading away from the computer. Personally, I like to read some computer-related books away from the computer, but I hardly ever do that with manuals for a specific piece of software (which is what the original question was about).
One of the big reasons why companies eliminate printed manuals is the cost of producing them. Books are very expensive compared the replication cost of software (on CD). No books means cheaper, more competitive products.
Sometimes it means information is more readily available if it can all be jammed on a CD-ROM. It used to be a lot more difficult to get some development documentation out of Microsoft before MSDN "one stop library" came along, even with all of its flaws.
When done well, electronic documentation does have advantages, such as searchability, hotlinking, etc. Unfortunately, companies very often do a bad job of it, making things hard to find.
It's also handy on a portable if you are stuck somewhere without your manuals...
I personally hate it when I get a piece of software/hardware which only has the manual in PDF format. Means I have to fire up Acrobat and print it myself on a non-postscript printer which looks terrible.
What is worse is when there is a manual which is all of 2 pages that just tells me to read the PDF file.
I don't know about others, but I personally don't enjoy staring at my PC screen reading a manual then playing Dance of the Windows to get what ever it is to work.
I recently upgraded a PC for a friend of mine. His new motherboard came with just a CD which had the manual on it. Oh boy now that is helpful. Don't have a PC to run it on.
My personal choice is that a printed manual should be included along with an electronic version.
Not having the paper manual leads to a loss expression which cannot be replaced with online files.
Have you ever tried to hurl a PDF file across the room in frustration? Can you make HTML cool off in the office trash can for a few hours? Can you wave BMP screenshots at your colleagues while shouting "Eureka!"?
Paper docs are here to stay if for no other reason than their tactile and expressive value.
-L
The only debate of software companies on the manual issue is how to save production costs, which, by cutting out the printed manual, will do. I for one will seldom buy packaged software that don't come with a tangible manual.
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JavaScript tutorials scripts
You can't take a CD into the john and read it. (Unless you take your notebook comuter also!)
Printed manuals add a touch of class. Some people like em, some don't.
Be ot or bot ne ot, taht is the nestquoi.
Now listen here. Paper. Focus. Paper. If I see another OVERPRICED piece of software with badly written/short/non-exsistant paper documentation i will probably... ...post to slashdot some more to whine about it.
====
Crudely Drawn Games
I would rather have a searchable document any day, but I would also like to have the option of purchasing a paper manual. Guarenteed, my office is littered with unused manuals and stacks of unread instructions, but if I need them, then they are always around. One thing I hate, is I have so many old useless manuals (such as these books on Word Perfect v5.1 and Windows 3.1 user guides) cluttering my office. If I could have all these older documentation on CD-roms, I would be much happier. Perhaps someone should start a company to drop this older documentation onto Cds or into HTML. I would purchase it. Whats good about printed format? I can quickly go and look something up right away. If I am looking for the use or context of a command, and I cannot remember the exact command, (dont laugh..) then I can flip open a book and there it is. Ever tried searching for "That command that lets me ..." Both definately have their good parts, and definately both have bad qualities. Dell.com systems gives me the choice of how I want my documentation- I chose both.
/. is a commercial entity. goto slashdot.com
Quite simply, you'll destroy your eyes reading on-line documentation for long periods of time, the letters are *much* harder to see compared with the stark difference between the white of a paper page and the black of printed text.
A few other points:
A paper manual is customizeable; you can scribble in the margines, highlight important mentions, add to it, photocopy chunks of it and tack them on your wall, or just color the diagrams if you're bored. You can even dog-ear the pages if you are so inclined, leaving a permanent mark. PDF files are set in stone unless you fork over the money for Acrobat or have Illustrator.
A paper manual is a rugged stand-alone piece of equipment; it requires no power, is immune to EMP and can survive most operator errors, functions independently of any OS/platform, and only requires that you bring pairs of functioning eyes and hands, as well as an understanding of the written language it's "coded" in. The larger ones usually have a glossary to help with the last requirement.
A paper manual is portable; it can function hundreds or thousands of miles from any computer (though getting thousands of miles from a computer is a neat trick these days, at least in the Western hemisphere), or even thrown across the room in a fit of frustration. It's also forgiving, it will probably still be working when you pick it back up after said tantrum!
A paper manual is ergonomic; it can be carried across a room for a consultation with a colleague via an inconveniently-placed phone (if that is an issue), it does not require the installation of "reader" software or hardware unless you need glasses, in which case you *probably* already have them. If you don't need glasses, it won't *make* you need them as quickly (see the comment on contrast ratio above).
A paper manual is more user-friendly; you can flip back and forth between any two pages with great ease, it uses a rugged interface proven in hundreds of years of testing, and can even make you look smarter when sitting on your bookshelf. (provided it's on the right package)
Ok, enough of that, I'm off to get coffee.
--
Searching for Truth, Justice, and the guy who boosted my walled a few years back....
Searching for Truth, Justice, and the Guy Who Boosted My Wallet a Few Weeks Back....
what about tech support manuals telling you why your computer crashed? what about eye strain? they don't make very good stickies with notes to mark page sections and you don't get the joy of folding over corners of pages just to spite your awful fourth grade school teacher who told you not to.
You right PDF could be so much more than it is...
A trick I've been doing with my software has been to include a PDF of the manual on the software CD. We still send the manual.
Of course for a manual to be usefull it as ta bee good writen (something most manuals lack)
TastesLikeHerringFlavoredChicken
TastesLikeHerringFlavoredChicken
well when I pay $200,000 for a piece of software I demand the home number of the programmer.
Another trend is to install PC anywhere on the users PC and trouble shoot from there.
TastesLikeHerringFlavoredChicken
TastesLikeHerringFlavoredChicken
I have 4+ computers in my room, running a total of 7 different OS's. But when all is said and done, I'd rather sit on the couch and have a real manual.
I make notes in my books and highlight codes and techniques for later reference. I like being able to take some time away from computers to think about them, without being in front of them. But I also use computers 85% of my day, so.....
Even if there are only software based manuals, I still print them out. So quite a wait for my manuals to print (500+ pages) vs. paying for a hard copy included. I'll take the hardcopy any day!
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?"
I hate electronic docs. Having to keep a doc window open and navigate back and forth between it and a running app is a major pain. There's never enough screen real estate, browsing and bookmarking is difficult if not impossible, and online docs are generally not as well organized unless they were originally written to be printable manuals. If the electronic doc is just the printed manual in PDF form, I print it! Trouble is, my printout is generally not as usable as a bound book. Any time I get some expensive software in a big box with all the heft of a bag of potato chips, I feel the manufacturer is screwing me for the sake of a few bucks, regardless of how wonderful the electronic doc is. My local bookstore's computer section was greatly expanded recently. If online docs were so usable, they'd just be selling these books on CDROM and saving all that space devoted to paper. That they aren't should be telling you something about people's preferences.
Now, of course, this myterious, hidden file, available only on electronic medium, had the PERFECT solution to my problem. But alas, it wasn't documented ON PAPER where it was living. So, I only stumbled upon by the good, smiling fates of the computer gods.
I will not deny that access to electronic publications (most notably the almost infinite amount of information available on the Web) is the MOST useful resource. Unfortunately, some of us get caught with our pants and/or skirts down and don't have access. I will ALWAYS be more pleased by companies that include full, useful documentation with their products in a form I can keep ON MY BOOKSHELF where I only have to worry about things like floods, earthquakes, and fires destroying it (not some stupid poorly written program whose source I don't trust!).
Regards.
This question came up in to my mind a while ago when I first got into Perl. I had plenty of documentation on my computer, but I don't know, for some reason I just wanted to have some physical documentation, aside from that, when you don't have a laptop and want to read on the go, the book is the only choice. Printed manuals are here to stay.
"spare the lachrymosity when the fulminations have inveighed"
-madd
Back in the day when I first got in to linux a friend of mine gave me his redhat 5.2 cd. Just the cd no manuals or any thing. I struggled through the install on my only computer by trial and error. I wiped out my previous windows install so I had no way to get online documentation or check messageboards. If it were not for luck and about a million trips to the book store I would still be trying to get linux installed. The point is in this age of technology things we try don't always work and when things don't work it is very nice to have a collection of paper that just requires a light to read it by so I can fix what goes wrong. It seems to me that if printed manuals were more readily avalible finding a well written one would not be so hard.
Whatever be the arguments regarding convenience, ultimately, the basic question, from your point of view is `Should the company change it's policy and stop providing printed manuals?' So, in my opinion, the sensible thing is to provide a printed version if and only if the customer specifically requests for one. Most customers would have adequate printing facilities, and can print their own. This is going to save you chaps some trouble, because you are going to avoid the hassle of printing and shipping a `book manual'.
As far as the general argument of electronic vs. book form is concerned, the basicdifference is that one can't flip through a screen full of information, one scrolls through, and that is a tad inconvenient. Given your basic problem, which is a question of policy, the screen vs. book question is rather moot, since those who like to read a book will print the manual anyway---they'll print copies for personal use irrespective of whether or not their is a copy available in the firm's library, and those who like to read things on the screen, will stick to HTML or whatever.
--Sanatan RaiI hate browsing through edocs. I would much rather pick up a real book and read it than try to sit for hours in front of a computer screen. The value of edocs is for quick searches and looking up a specific task. Then the clickable interface does it best.
Paper manuals should be given to those who actually want a book to hold. I prefer online or CD Docs because usually I just need one thing and the index is a lot of times are poorly written. I feel it is a waste of paper if that person can get very little use out of a paper manual. Mostly I think its a big waste of paper and space. Retailers should ship one product with CD Docs that would be cheaper, and one with Paper manuals that would cost more to offset the cost of shipping, printing.... think of it as a marketing survey do we want paper manuals, and will we pay the difference. Not everyone wants to sit next to a cozy fire and read technical manuals.
Online manuals are fine when you are looking for quick answers and it doesn't involve lots of reading. If there are cross references and the need to double check info, nothing compares to flipping through a book. And when your entire system crashes and you need to figure out what to do next, the online manuals are completely useless. . . . If i can't get on the internet, what good is the "modem won't work" FAQ going to be to me?
First to expand on Cliff's note... I think people would rather have a manual handy to leaf through and bookmark. It seems like an "old" way to do things, but how many books have you read on your computer screen lately? So, it seems to me that if there's a substantial amount of reading to be done before the user should be capable of using the product, then print it. If it's just a quickie lookup manual, then give them a quick-start brochure with pointers to docs on CD and web, and burn the rest on a CD. Half the time, users wind up printing parts off of the CD manual, but it just doesn't seem that big of a deal. Also, when the software is distributed free with a service you provide, it seems that a lot less printed documentation comes with it. Another idea comes to mind. I ordered a Motorola DSP evaluation circuit board. It came with about a 40-page printed manual and no docs on the DSP architecture or programming interface. They had those on a CD that came with the board. There's no way I would use those PDFs unless totally cornered, so I had to order the printed manuals from Motorola. They were free. Motorola saves money by doing this because a department using their product might have a shelf of their manuals as opposed to every employee having one that came with the board. Just my $.02
Most of what I've learned since leaving school was done while sitting on the can. It's the only place you can go for uninterrupted contemplation.
Printed Manuals are totally necessary.. I love buying a new game and sit on the toilet for a good long while flipping pages through the manual.. Printed manuals are the laxative of the gaming community!!
i need the manuals so i can take that good dump after buying a game leafing through the instructions.. i fear paperless like i fear paperless washrooms
I WOULD LIKE TO SAY THAT MANUALS ARE DEAD BECAUSE YESTERDAY MY FRIEND AND I WERE AT HIS HOUSE WRITING THIS 1337 H3X0R PROGRAMZ TO GIVE SERIALZ CODEZ FOR UTILZ LIKE WINZIP AND HOTDOG AND OTHER KEWL PROGZ, AND WE COULDN'T FIGURE OUT WHAT QBASIC CODE TO USE AND WE WENT TO THIS SITE AND IT WAS REALLY GOOOD, EVEN BETTER THAN MY FRIENDZ QBASIC4DUMMIES BOOKS. I THINK THATZ WHAT SEPERATES THE 31337 H4X0RZ FOR THE KIDDIEZ--THEY KNOW WHERE TO FIND THE T0P 53CR37 1NF0RM4710NZ!!!!!!
HI!!!!!!!!
Hi, I develop computational chemistry apps. I'm now with Schrodinger, Inc., but back when I with Columbia University, I posted to the comp. chem. mailing list to find out what typical users felt about this. First, some background. I had been having some e-conversations with Lisa Balbes, a freelance tech. writer and consultant in GUI design for chemistry apps. She and I both very much liked printed manuals, and wanted to use the survey to bolster our position. Also part of the background was that printing the manuals was a major expense and logistical hassle. The prevalent feeling among the respondants was that supplying hard copy wasn't necessary. Most actually felt that on-line and HTML docs were sufficient, and that searchability was key to this. Some argued loudly that we shouldn't waste trees. On the other side were those who pointed out that you can't read HTML while riding on the bus or sitting on the pot, and that they liked to mark up their personal hard copies. But even those who liked hard copy said that it would suffice to supply online docs in a format that could be printed with TOC and index; examples of such format would be PDF and PostScript, but not html. Thus we concluded that we didn't actually have to supply the paper copy, but did need to supply the wherewithall for users to print thir own. We did this for a year, but eventually found that a number of customers complained. First, our survey wasn't very scientific and we may have underestimated the demand for vendor-supplied hard copy. Second, it is not only the fraction of respondants that counts, but also the strength of the desire. For the most part, those who didn't think hard copy is important were indifferent (except for one or two "greens"). OTOH, those who wanted hard copy wanted it a lot. So we started supplying it again. Why is vendor-supplied hard copy better than user-printable? Primarily because it's more compact, printed on two sides and easy to carry around -- not to mention the barrier to printing a doc that might be 100+ pages long. My own feeling, having gone through this, is that it depends on the complexity of the application, and how self-documenting it is. I doubt hard copy is important for, say, a text editor or a word processor. But for anything complex where there may be a lot of subtleties -- particularly content-related subtleties -- it is very important. Recently, I bought Exceed, an X-server for PCs that comes from Hummingbird. I was very happy to have compact, well-written vendor-supplied paper docs that I could read in the subway or take out to lunch and read in the park. -P.
Printed manuals are still here, they are being supplied by a third party. When I wrote code in Borland Pascal (v1 -v7) and Borland C++ I typically had two reference books besides the printer manuals. Today with Delphi and Borland C++ Builder (on line documentation) I have five reference books for each costing and additional $130. As a whole, professionally published documentation is far superior as it sells on its own merits. Good ducumentation is priceless!
In the future one must consider the advantages by sparing the forest from being chopped down to make manuals nobody ever reads anyways. I've got a Microsoft Works manual with approx. 1 billion pages wich I have never read. What a waste of resources!
Back in the day one used to get a huge manual with a program or game. It included everything you ever wanted to know about the game and you could read it (nat as if anyone ever did) when it was ubstalling. Then someone decided that you could save money by not printing the paper manuals. So everyone followed. Have you noticed that all the Linux releases come with a huge manual? Also that before Linux went "mainstream" in order to get it you bought a book that had the cd included? All this was becasue it is s much faster to flip through a book to find whatever you are looking for as opposed to a screen. Notice that whenever you get a lone emial you normally print it out? Or even the newspaper. It comes on PAPER while you could probably read the thing for free online. But you don't because it is easier to read. What about programs that you need the information from the manual in order ot play the game when you first start? Flight Sim 2000? If you didn't have a printed manual you would have no Idea what to do. Are thye goign to put in the installer. "Click next to print the manual?" Then you get a 100 page manual that you cannot staple takes up a rediculous amount of space becaue it printed the whole thing in large font on one side of the paper. (as most of us do not have double sided printers.) So all in all we end up loosing out on the little things that make life so much easier yet they save some company 50 some odd cents.
Electronic manuals work fine and they save people money. The only thing you really need a paper manual for is products like operating systems. One question I have is why does everyone get so hung up on PDF? PDF is dumb. There's nothing you can put in a PDF that you can't make with HTML--and HTML is about as portable a document format as you can get. You've also got a choice of browsers with HTML--with PDF, you HAVE to use Adobe's dumb Acrobat Viewer.
I think PDF files for manuals are okay, but sometimes I have to view one on one machine while doing the thing I need to read about on the other machine. Duh, this sucks. I have to tie up *two* of my home machines at the same time, and when I have some machine-to-machine stuff going on between my Windoze and Linux box, I have to get the notebook out as a third machine just to read the manual (because it sucks swapping back and forth between a PDF window and the thing I'm trying to do. No biggie if I were at work, but I'm at home tying up multiple machines (because I hate flipping back and forth from window to window to read the text and then do the thing I'm doing). Besides, the software companies are keeping the prices the same (or increasing them) and giving us software packages now with NO book! WTF, over? Is this Kansas anymore, Toto? Kill a tree for me, because I want to read about my stuff on the bus without loading the text into my PalmPilot. Sheez! Just provide both; we (the users) will sort of the details... Like anyone's really going to listen to me here in this forum anyway... :-)
Printed Manuals
Pro
1. Easier to read than computer screen.
2. Extreemly portable, you can read printed books almost anywhere there is light.
3. Easier to "mark up" with own notes, etc...
4. Wonderful for people who like to read in bed, but don't have a laptop.
5. No need to tie up a computer just to read the manual.
6. For large numbers of pages, the publishing cost to print a manual can be less than the cost to print an electronic file on a laser printer.
Con
1. High Cost relative to Electronic format.
2. Paper usage.
3. Slower update times.
4. Reprinting and distribution costs every time something needs to be updated.
PDF file (or electronic format of your choice)
Pro
1. Low Cost.
2. Can be updated easily.
3. Updated editions can be distributed quickly.
4. Saves paper.
5. Usually free download.
6. If you really need a printed version, you can print it out on a printer.
7. If you lose your file, you can usually go to the source and download it relatively easily.
Con
1. You need a computer to read it.
2. Relatively non-portable.
3. Harder on the eyes than paper versions.
4. Hard to read a few hundred pages on a computer moniter.
5. Printing it out, thereby avoiding cons 1-4, can be expensive for large numbers of pages.
Analysis:
I personally like printed manuals, but I recognize that there are costs involved. My own view is that printed manuals should be optional (at least if they are > 100 pages). And printed manuals should cost something for the customer requesting them. Or, looking at it from the other side, users who are content with only an electronic format should have to pay less since the costs are less. Also, if printing electronic files on printers ever becomes extreemly cheap, then I would recommend a full switch to electronic format (and let people print their own paper copies).
Love HTML, so that when working on sys., can be viewing it with the "w3" browser in emacs in one window while doing the configs, etc. in the other window - and can copy examples across and use as the basis of own config.
Can search source HTML with unix tools (eg. grep - a point others have made)
Printed -- is what you have to say worth sitting back in an armchair with for an hour or so at a time? Sometimes yes - then you have your niche for a lovely printed book.
No one expects printed manuals anymore. But please don't put them on the web, when you can just as easily put your html files on the CD. Then I won't have to wait for a server to come up just to read the manual.
Not until I have a handheld device as light and easy to read as a book, that can have multi-megabyte pdf or txt files. Using online help and pdf viewers is great, but flipping between the app ant the help file viewer is not convenient.
Paper manuals have several advantages:
Printed matter is much more portable. Not everyone can afford lap-tops and PDAs. Further, books are entirely non-volitile and require no batteries to operate. I can cary books anywhere, even for weeks at a time, and they don't run down and give a blank screen (I could even do this in the middle of the wilderness, on a hide or such, if I wanted). I like to sit in my front yard or nice days and study (both computer-related books and science / medical text); this requires a book, since my towercase and monitor would just not be practical to move outside and back in.
(I should probably note also that reading manuals for something through can be a good thing; cashing the info in your brain is always going to be faster than finding it elsewhere and loading it into your brain then -- and allows more automatic use.)
All that being said, there are still many uses for which electronic media are better. Large data bases are a good example, as are monitarily free documents (since it remove printing and material costs that a monitarily free distribution won't cover). And, eleectronic media are great for those who use them. Electronic media also make great adjuct refferences for those who preffer printed manuals -- man pages are a wonderful convienence. I also download many free docs, like the LDP and W3C docs, since I can't afford a ton of books on everything. (Comparing the price reveal publishers are making a killing of the computer industries success).
I think a "paperless" society sounds good on the surface, its good appearance is misleading, and based on poorly thought through ideas. Yeah, eccologically speaking, you cut fewer trees. But, trying to recycle batteries (they waer out sooner or later) is an eccological nighmare. A better place to stop using paper would be in container -- re-usable contain, bags, plates, etc., are a great idea! But for distributing large amounts of techincal info paper should remain available.
So, as I see it, electronic media are a great and welcome addition to documentation, and publication in general -- but should not replace paper media, but rather, the two should coexist, so that both there strengths are available.