![]() ![]() If the user wants a PDF for the third reason, then this points out to a poor organization with the online experience. If the reasons relate to permissions or offline access, then the zip file is fine. Knowing the reason why people request PDF is important, which is why when someone asks me for a PDF, I ask them why they need it. We all know how frustrating it is to bounce around from page to page, getting pieces of information that relate to a problem you're having but not the whole picture.īy requesting a PDF, maybe the user is really asking for a book-like approach to the help content, where you allow users to see the whole at a glance, with specific chapters that build sequentially and logically. Sometimes, on a website, you put the most-searched-for information up front and bury the beginner details elsewhere. ![]() By getting the content in a PDF, which follows a linear format, the user can start the content from the beginning - like a book - and move forward in a sequential, logical way. Suppose the website content is scattered and hard to follow. There is one situation, however, where the user asks for a PDF not based on either of the above conditions. In both of these situations, having a copy of the website locally on the user's machines fulfills the need of a PDF. When the user is offline (for example, the user may be preparing to travel, or the user may be going on a plane or ocean cruise or remote region of the world where online access is spotty), the zipped website works well. When the user can't access the doc site due to file permission restrictions (e.g., the user is a prospect and not a fully-privileged customer, but the sales team wants to give the prospect a preview of the documentation so the customer understands the level of technical detail involved in implementing the product), the zipped website works well. This works well for these two situations: When I get these requests, I usually create a zip file of the website and send it to the user, instructing the user to click the index file to launch it. In some cases, often for unstated reasons, users will ask for a PDF, and product managers expect technical writers to deliver one. I've never been a fan of PDFs, but PDF output is usually a requirement someone invariably brings up for documentation. Academic/Practitioner Conversations Project.Author in DITA and Publish with WordPress.Reflecting seven years later about why we were laid off.A hypothesis about influence on the web and the workplace. ![]()
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