Re: Looking for a documentation portal example
Hi John, I totally agree with your thoughts regrading presentation and I did not want to disregard PDF. But especially with a library full of documents, and a user base who doesn't know in which document to look for a solution, I think it is easier to built an HTML-based server-side search than forcing the user to download all PDFs together with the Acrobat Catalog data for acceptable full-text search. When documents are distributed via CD/DVD this is not a issue. Regarding CSS formatting: This might give you acceptable print quality with additional logos a the top of each page, but e.g. no page numbers, etc. So my advice is to always offer PDF as an option, not only because it is so simple to generate it using FrameMaker. Thanks for the links so far, the Advanced Search of the IRS site are a dream come true in terms of power. - Michael Am 18.04.2007 22:57, John Posada schrieb/wrote: But, wouldn't it be desirable to have all that information in HTML format: better navigation options, more efficient search, search no. ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
Re: Looking for a documentation portal example
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/default.aspx On 4/18/07, Michael Müller-Hillebrand [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Have you seen such a (public) documentation portal? I am looking around myself, but would be thankful for every link you can give me. -- Bill Swallow HATT List Owner WWP-Users List Owner Senior Member STC, TechValley Chapter STC Single-Sourcing SIG Manager http://techcommdood.blogspot.com avid homebrewer and proud beer snob I see your OOO message and raise you a clue. ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
Re: Looking for a documentation portal example
I favor having both if possible, if for no other reason that Google can find and correctly index masses of HTML pages (its PDF indexing is good but doesn't seem to understand the different search priorities of entities in the document, making it like an ASCII file in terms of rankings). Chris, this simply isn't true. Google will index the full text but will pull from the document properties first to catagorize the indexing for the document. If you use your doc tage correctly, you will see better results - same goes for HTML and meta information. http://www.acrobatusers.com/articles/2006/02/pdf_for_google/pdf_for_google.php -- Bill Swallow HATT List Owner WWP-Users List Owner Senior Member STC, TechValley Chapter STC Single-Sourcing SIG Manager http://techcommdood.blogspot.com avid homebrewer and proud beer snob I see your OOO message and raise you a clue. ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
Looking for a documentation portal example
Hi John, I totally agree with your thoughts regrading presentation and I did not want to disregard PDF. But especially with a library full of documents, and a user base who doesn't know in which document to look for a solution, I think it is easier to built an HTML-based server-side search than forcing the user to download all PDFs together with the Acrobat Catalog data for acceptable full-text search. When documents are distributed via CD/DVD this is not a issue. Regarding CSS formatting: This might give you acceptable print quality with additional logos a the top of each page, but e.g. no page numbers, etc. So my advice is to always offer PDF as an option, not only because it is so simple to generate it using FrameMaker. Thanks for the links so far, the Advanced Search of the IRS site are a dream come true in terms of power. - Michael Am 18.04.2007 22:57, John Posada schrieb/wrote: > >> But, wouldn't it be desirable to have all that information in HTML >> format: better navigation options, more efficient search, search > > no.
Looking for a documentation portal example
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/default.aspx On 4/18/07, Michael M?ller-Hillebrand wrote: > Have you seen such a (public) documentation portal? I am looking around > myself, but would be thankful for every link you can give me. -- Bill Swallow HATT List Owner WWP-Users List Owner Senior Member STC, TechValley Chapter STC Single-Sourcing SIG Manager http://techcommdood.blogspot.com avid homebrewer and proud beer snob "I see your OOO message and raise you a clue."
Looking for a documentation portal example
> I favor having both if possible, if for no other > reason that Google can find and correctly index masses > of HTML pages (its PDF indexing is good but doesn't > seem to understand the different search priorities of > entities in the document, making it like an ASCII file > in terms of rankings). Chris, this simply isn't true. Google will index the full text but will pull from the document properties first to catagorize the indexing for the document. If you use your doc tage correctly, you will see better results - same goes for HTML and meta information. http://www.acrobatusers.com/articles/2006/02/pdf_for_google/pdf_for_google.php -- Bill Swallow HATT List Owner WWP-Users List Owner Senior Member STC, TechValley Chapter STC Single-Sourcing SIG Manager http://techcommdood.blogspot.com avid homebrewer and proud beer snob "I see your OOO message and raise you a clue."
Looking for a documentation portal example
Folks, we all know the benefits of creating and publishing books using FrameMaker, especially since PDF creation is mostly harmless. Also, FrameMaker documents are a good source for HTML conversion processes, if one follows the structure or template. A company with a lot of modules (software or hardware) nowadays usually has a website where all the latest PDF files are available for download. But, wouldn't it be desirable to have all that information in HTML format: better navigation options, more efficient search, search across all modules. It seems to me HTML would be better for many tasks, but printing. Have you seen such a (public) documentation portal? I am looking around myself, but would be thankful for every link you can give me. Thanks a lot, - Michael ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
Re: Looking for a documentation portal example
You're right, but people like PDFs because they're portable. Most that I know have at least one directory stuffed with PDFs for fast reference, or catching up on that international plane flight when net access is not possible. I favor having both if possible, if for no other reason that Google can find and correctly index masses of HTML pages (its PDF indexing is good but doesn't seem to understand the different search priorities of entities in the document, making it like an ASCII file in terms of rankings). --- Michael Müller-Hillebrand [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: But, wouldn't it be desirable to have all that information in HTML format: better navigation options, more efficient search, search across all modules. It seems to me HTML would be better for many tasks, but printing. User Interface design blog http://user-advocacy.blogspot.com/ Code::Design::UI::Consulting http://www.dionysius.com/ __ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
RE: Looking for a documentation portal example
Michael Müller-Hillebrand A company with a lot of modules (software or hardware) nowadays usually has a website where all the latest PDF files are available for download. But, wouldn't it be desirable to have all that information in HTML format: better navigation options, more efficient search, search across all modules. It seems to me HTML would be better for many tasks, but printing. Have you seen such a (public) documentation portal? I am looking around myself, but would be thankful for every link you can give me. I've recently been using Cisco's, and I think it's rather nicely done. Here's where I started: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/support/tsd_documentation.html Everything I needed was available as web pages, with pretty decent navigation on the left. But the topics all seemed to have Download this chapter and Download the complete book links to PDFs. Now, if only the stuff I needed were easy to understand. ;-) Richard -- Richard G. Combs Senior Technical Writer Polycom, Inc. richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom 303-223-5111 -- rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom 303-777-0436 -- ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
RE: Looking for a documentation portal example
IMO The US Internal Revenue Service has excellent online documentation portal: http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/index.html Also interesting - the NY Times has a cool feature that I would love to be able to replicate in my documentation: doubleclick any word in any article and it opens a dictionary or encyclopedia entry for it. ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
Re: Looking for a documentation portal example
The company I recently started working for, Color Kinetics, has a not bad delivery portal. Disclaimer: Only a couple items here are mine. All typos, weird wording, etc., originated elsewhere. ;- ) And on format: PDF is still classed as a terminal format in that it's relatively hard to modify. HTML, by comparison, is pretty easy to break if you don't happen to have the right mix of browser and add-ins loaded. Art On 4/18/07, Michael Müller-Hillebrand [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Folks, we all know the benefits of creating and publishing books using FrameMaker, especially since PDF creation is mostly harmless. Also, FrameMaker documents are a good source for HTML conversion processes, if one follows the structure or template. A company with a lot of modules (software or hardware) nowadays usually has a website where all the latest PDF files are available for download. But, wouldn't it be desirable to have all that information in HTML format: better navigation options, more efficient search, search across all modules. It seems to me HTML would be better for many tasks, but printing. Have you seen such a (public) documentation portal? I am looking around myself, but would be thankful for every link you can give me. Thanks a lot, - Michael -- Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED] ... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded girl. -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
RE: Looking for a documentation portal example
How much of that can be controlled by providing a good print.css file and a button for it? -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of John Posada Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 4:58 PM To: Michael Müller-Hillebrand; Framers Subject: Re: Looking for a documentation portal example A company with a lot of modules (software or hardware) nowadays usually has a website where all the latest PDF files are available for download. we do. But, wouldn't it be desirable to have all that information in HTML format: better navigation options, more efficient search, search no. Why? When I post a manual for my product, content is one thing I'm interested in. However, I'm also interested in having control over what you see is what I sent. I don't want to take the chance that you are going to look at my $250,000 software's 200 page configuration manual in a browser I couldn't forsee and see something distorted. I don't want to know that because of something I have no control over, images don't show, show poorly, or appear somewhere I hadn't expected. for many tasks, but printing. You make that seem like a minor point. I want to know that when you click the print button, you're going to get what I want...fonts and everything. I can give you wonderful navigation in PDF. Acrobat has wonderful search facilities. HTML wouldn't buy me anything. Besides...if I was to offer my manual in HTML, I'd have to include a complete directory hierarchy and possibly hundreds of files, scripts, images, etc. We happen to offer alot of our background reference documentation in HTML on the CD and installed when you install the product. However, this is for material where presentation doesn't matter...you want a command line syntax or the meaning of a term. However, where presenatation matters, it stays PDF. John Posada Senior Technical Writer They say everyone needs goals. Mine is to live forever. So far, so good. ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/jsgammato%40imprivata.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
Looking for a documentation portal example
Folks, we all know the benefits of creating and publishing books using FrameMaker, especially since PDF creation is "mostly harmless". Also, FrameMaker documents are a good source for HTML conversion processes, if one follows the structure or template. A company with a lot of modules (software or hardware) nowadays usually has a website where all the latest PDF files are available for download. But, wouldn't it be desirable to have all that information in HTML format: better navigation options, more efficient search, search across all modules. It seems to me HTML would be better for many tasks, but printing. Have you seen such a (public) documentation portal? I am looking around myself, but would be thankful for every link you can give me. Thanks a lot, - Michael
Looking for a documentation portal example
You're right, but people like PDFs because they're portable. Most that I know have at least one directory stuffed with PDFs for fast reference, or catching up on that international plane flight when net access is not possible. I favor having both if possible, if for no other reason that Google can find and correctly index masses of HTML pages (its PDF indexing is good but doesn't seem to understand the different search priorities of entities in the document, making it like an ASCII file in terms of rankings). --- Michael M?ller-Hillebrand wrote: > But, wouldn't it be desirable to have all that > information in HTML > format: better navigation options, more efficient > search, search across > all modules. It seems to me HTML would be better for > many tasks, but > printing. User Interface design blog http://user-advocacy.blogspot.com/ Code::Design::UI::Consulting http://www.dionysius.com/ __ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
Looking for a documentation portal example
Michael M?ller-Hillebrand > A company with a lot of modules (software or hardware) > nowadays usually has a website where all the latest PDF files > are available for download. > > But, wouldn't it be desirable to have all that information in HTML > format: better navigation options, more efficient search, > search across all modules. It seems to me HTML would be > better for many tasks, but printing. > > Have you seen such a (public) documentation portal? I am > looking around myself, but would be thankful for every link > you can give me. I've recently been using Cisco's, and I think it's rather nicely done. Here's where I started: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/support/tsd_documentation.html Everything I needed was available as web pages, with pretty decent navigation on the left. But the topics all seemed to have "Download this chapter" and "Download the complete book" links to PDFs. Now, if only the stuff I needed were easy to understand. ;-) Richard -- Richard G. Combs Senior Technical Writer Polycom, Inc. richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom 303-223-5111 -- rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom 303-777-0436 --
Looking for a documentation portal example
IMO The US Internal Revenue Service has excellent online documentation portal: http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/index.html Also interesting - the NY Times has a cool feature that I would love to be able to replicate in my documentation: doubleclick any word in any article and it opens a dictionary or encyclopedia entry for it.
Looking for a documentation portal example
> A company with a lot of modules (software or hardware) nowadays > usually > has a website where all the latest PDF files are available for > download. we do. > But, wouldn't it be desirable to have all that information in HTML > format: better navigation options, more efficient search, search no. Why? When I post a manual for my product, content is one thing I'm interested in. However, I'm also interested in having control over what you see is what I sent. I don't want to take the chance that you are going to look at my $250,000 software's 200 page configuration manual in a browser I couldn't forsee and see something distorted. I don't want to know that because of something I have no control over, images don't show, show poorly, or appear somewhere I hadn't expected. >for many tasks, but printing. You make that seem like a minor point. I want to know that when you click the print button, you're going to get what I want...fonts and everything. I can give you wonderful navigation in PDF. Acrobat has wonderful search facilities. HTML wouldn't buy me anything. Besides...if I was to offer my manual in HTML, I'd have to include a complete directory hierarchy and possibly hundreds of files, scripts, images, etc. We happen to offer alot of our background reference documentation in HTML on the CD and installed when you install the product. However, this is for material where presentation doesn't matter...you want a command line syntax or the meaning of a term. However, where presenatation matters, it stays PDF. John Posada Senior Technical Writer "They say everyone needs goals. Mine is to live forever. So far, so good."
Looking for a documentation portal example
The company I recently started working for, Color Kinetics, has a "not bad" delivery portal. Disclaimer: Only a couple items here are mine. All typos, weird wording, etc., originated elsewhere. ;- ) And on format: PDF is still classed as a "terminal format" in that it's relatively hard to modify. HTML, by comparison, is pretty easy to break if you don't happen to have the right mix of browser and add-ins loaded. Art On 4/18/07, Michael M?ller-Hillebrand wrote: > Folks, > > we all know the benefits of creating and publishing books using > FrameMaker, especially since PDF creation is "mostly harmless". Also, > FrameMaker documents are a good source for HTML conversion processes, if > one follows the structure or template. > > A company with a lot of modules (software or hardware) nowadays usually > has a website where all the latest PDF files are available for download. > > But, wouldn't it be desirable to have all that information in HTML > format: better navigation options, more efficient search, search across > all modules. It seems to me HTML would be better for many tasks, but > printing. > > Have you seen such a (public) documentation portal? I am looking around > myself, but would be thankful for every link you can give me. > > Thanks a lot, > > - Michael > -- Art Campbell art.campbell at gmail.com "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded girl." -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358
Looking for a documentation portal example
How much of that can be controlled by providing a good print.css file and a button for it? -Original Message- From: framers-bounces+jsgammato=imprivata.com at lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-bounces+jsgammato=imprivata@lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of John Posada Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 4:58 PM To: Michael "M?ller-Hillebrand; Framers Subject: Re: Looking for a documentation portal example > A company with a lot of modules (software or hardware) nowadays > usually has a website where all the latest PDF files are available for > download. we do. > But, wouldn't it be desirable to have all that information in HTML > format: better navigation options, more efficient search, search no. Why? When I post a manual for my product, content is one thing I'm interested in. However, I'm also interested in having control over what you see is what I sent. I don't want to take the chance that you are going to look at my $250,000 software's 200 page configuration manual in a browser I couldn't forsee and see something distorted. I don't want to know that because of something I have no control over, images don't show, show poorly, or appear somewhere I hadn't expected. >for many tasks, but printing. You make that seem like a minor point. I want to know that when you click the print button, you're going to get what I want...fonts and everything. I can give you wonderful navigation in PDF. Acrobat has wonderful search facilities. HTML wouldn't buy me anything. Besides...if I was to offer my manual in HTML, I'd have to include a complete directory hierarchy and possibly hundreds of files, scripts, images, etc. We happen to offer alot of our background reference documentation in HTML on the CD and installed when you install the product. However, this is for material where presentation doesn't matter...you want a command line syntax or the meaning of a term. However, where presenatation matters, it stays PDF. John Posada Senior Technical Writer "They say everyone needs goals. Mine is to live forever. So far, so good." ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as jsgammato at imprivata.com. Send list messages to framers at lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscribe at lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/jsgammato%40imprivata.com Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
