User guides: paper or online?
Before we discuss whether documentation is better on paper or online, we define the following terms:
- Paper documentation is documentation that is supplied on paper or that is supplied electronically and which ia designed to be printed. For example, a PDF file that has an A4 page size is paper documentation.
- Online documentation is documentation that is designed to be read on a screen. For example, a context-sensitive help system is one type of online documentation.
Frequently, people need a user guide when they start to work with software. For readers, a printed user guide has the following advantages compared to an online user guide:
- People can easily write notes on the user guide.
- People can read the user guide away from the screen.
- People do not need to repeatedly change between the online help and the software.
Sometimes, people need both reference information and instructions for tasks. A good practical combination is to supply a printed (or printable) software user guide for instructions, and context-sensitive online help for reference information.
Sometimes, an online user guide is useful. For example, if people do not need conceptual information and if the tasks are simple, then an online user guide is an effective way of helping people to use software.