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At conferences, by email, onsite we get asked lots of questions. The questions below are the most frequent, arranged by category:
| About S&C Information Services Online / Hypertext |
Single Sourcing Websites Help Documentation |
About Scribble & Count
How Long Have You Been in Business?As a legal entity, since 9/20/93; unofficially for longer than that. [Financial institutions, suppliers, etc. must all use the same rigid formula: within two weeks of our fifth birthday (by early October 98), our mailbox was stuffed with congratulatory letters that just happened to be accompanied by offers to do business with us.]
How Do Your Non-writing Experiences Make You Better Writers?
Our teaching experience helps us write for retention; our research experience helps us gather facts. Bill and Marci first went online in 1976 and 1987, respectively -- long before the World Wide Web. We started using online search engines a decade ago; we understand their use, and can write and organize so that they will retrieve your Website in searches. Bill was a reference librarian for seven years; he knows what structures facilitate quick retrieval (and which ones don't). Bill has also run libraries and cataloged their contents. These experiences make us both better writers and hypertext authors, and it makes Bill a Document Manager.
Do You Have Liability Insurance?
Yes. We can activate it when needed.
Information Services
"Knowledge Management / Info Management / Information Architecture: Do We Really Need All These Terms?Yes and no. The post-industrial, information-based economy is a major revolution, so some new words are probably necessary.
That said, we don't need as many ambiguous words as we've got now -- and, like dot-com's, there's a shakeout coming. S&C provides information services (authoring, research, training, records management) -- so we use that term a lot. We can't discern much difference between "knowledge management" and "information management"; they both mean bringing order to the chaos, and maintaining order thereafter. We're a little partial to the concept of "information architecture", because as trainers and researchers, we know that the arrangement of the material is vital to how easily it is retrieved and how well it is retained. But we'd be happy with any widely accepted term, particularly one that didn't sound so pompous.
A decade from now there won't be so many. And you'll have gotten used to the ones that have survived.
What's This Conflict between Format & Content?The most complex question you could ask. We'll cover the most important two aspects.
Format Can Be Content! When it aids either retrieval or retention of information, format is as much content as the data itself. The designers of HTML (back in 1989-91) didn't appreciate that fact -- but micro-managing format for possible aesthetic purposes has made matters a whole lot worse.
Separating Format from Content Is Powerful! The eventual implementation (and it will eventually be implemented) of XML/XHTML will satisfy both the content and format advocates -- and the efficiency-oriented bean counters as well. The result will be a wonderful place (and, if you're not as old as we are, probably in your lifetime).
Online / Hypertext
Why Should I Publish My Documents Online?If quick revision, efficient dissemination, nonlinear presentation, or interactive dialogue are important to you, online documentation has a lot to offer. But not everything belongs online: some installation manuals, most field guides, lengthy treatises, and (until screens improve) large or complex schematics.
Single Sourcing
What Is Single Sourcing?Producing a document in one medium and publishing/distributing it in several media. The most common combination today is production in print (using word processor or desktop publisher), and distributing both print and online (WinHelp and/or HTML versions; but there are other possibilities. See our Styles, Document Conversion, & Single Sourcing service.
What Are the Advantages / Disadvantages of That?
Advantage: Efficiency (at least in the long term).
Disadvantages: (1) If documents aren't composed properly, conversions don't work, and all efficiencies are lost because the document must be recreated in the other medium(s). (2) Even if composed properly and converted easily, there is a tendency to allow the strengths of one medium dominate, to the detriment of the other(s).
Can You Give Me an Example?
There are many. The clearest (and most common) is converting a perfectly good print document into WinHelp and/or HTML. It ends up looking like the linear document it's always been, just harder to read.
Not Good. What's the Solution?
Planning. Start with the following questions to determine appropriate publication medium(s):
- What are the document's goals?
- Who is the audience?
- What are the conditions of use?
- What is the creation/revision schedule?
- What other constraints (such as budget) exist?
- an installation guide (which better be independent of whatever you're shipping);
- procedures (which are normally best presented online, but can be duplicated in print);
- conceptual material (best in print, but you can often distribute online for printing by interested users);
- reference material (like installation, independent of your product).
Then Finish Your Answer.
OK. The following might help you understand your creation options:
- If your presentations are print and WinHelp, MS Word is the natural choice, probably supplemented by a "HAT" (help authoring tool).
- If your online displays are both HTML and WinHelp, a good HAT handles both, but an HTML tool normally does not.
- If presentations are print and PDF, FrameMaker does the job. Otherwise you will need the Acrobat suite to supplement your creation tool.
- If creation is a collaborative effort, a tool with a good versioning utility is a must: there are several.
- If your source materials is primarily in a database, that limits your front-end choices considerably, but probably not your final authoring tool.
Thanks. I Think.
Regardless of your medium(s) and tool(s), you will use the following general technique when you single source:
- Plan and organize more carefully than you ever have for a single medium.
- Divide your material into very small "chunks" (roughly the text following a level 2 or 3 heading in print).
- Keep the chunks separate. Move them into multiple threads (don't worry about minor duplication).
- Realizing that online presentations aren't linear, don't worry about repeating introductory material.
Websites
Why Do I Need a Website?There are several possible reasons, and you should have one or more of them firmly in mind before you proceed:
- online sales;
- online customer support;
- online employee support;
- online dissemination of information (including advertising);
- image and branding;
- fact that your competitors have a Web presence.[Still not convinced]
Can You Predict What It Will Cost?
If what you want is what we feel comfortable providing, we can make a rough estimate. We create Websites emphasizing content (as opposed to e-commerce, or multi-media), and the range so far has been $12,000 to $34,000. That includes 30-50 Web pages (100-150 files, including graphics) and the subcontract to our graphics artist; it does not include ISP hosting ($50-150/month) or maintenance after the site is posted. We can't estimate the time involved, because we don't know how well you've defined your needs, and how much of the content is already in form we can adapt for online use.
Although site maintenance is a separate issue, you have to consider its costs before you begin. You should make readily noticeable changes on a regular basis -- at least once a month, normally more frequently than that. You should also compile (and act on!) usage statistics: What do the emails to your webmaster say? Which pages are used most (least) frequently? On which page do your users leave? This type of maintenance normally takes 10-40 hours/month, some of this is clerical, but most isn't. You can attempt this yourself or you can contract it out (to us, or to others); but you should consider its cost before you start Website design.
Help Documentation
What Is The Future of Help? Of WinHelp?These are slightly different questions. Stand-alone reference help documents (whether WinHelp, or any other) have, for the most part, moved to HTML (and will have moved again to XML before this decade is out). For Windows-based software documentation, the most powerful medium is WinHelp. In this limited role, it has two primary drawbacks: a small revision normally requires redistribution of the entire help document, and it must be displayed on a Windows platform.
HTML-based help (Microsoft's HTML Help, Java Help, InterHelp (ForeFront), WebHelp (RoboHELP), and various specialized implementations) are harder to generalize about. However, there will always be a need for help tied to a specific application. A major problem most of these vendors are having is satisfying the expectations created by WinHelp 4 (the best hypertext format to date).
Why Is WinHelp So Powerful?
Because all of the important variables are known, and most are under control. There are only two or three variants of one basic platform involved; minimum hardware is clearly stated; Ralph Walden (lead developer) knew Windows like the back of his hand. (In fact, Ralph said repeatedly that his biggest career mistake was giving help authors so robust a program as WinHelp 4; we've been cantankerous ever since.)
We don't emphasize WinHelp anymore, but we still take contracts.
In any event, we can point out the best WinHelp authors in metro Denver.
In any event, we can point out the best WinHelp authors in metro Denver.
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