User guides: paper or online?
Is documentation better on paper or online? Before proceeding, let's be clear about terms:
- Paper documentation refers to documents that are either supplied on paper or which are supplied electronically, and which are designed to be read from a printed page. For example, a PDF file that you expect users to print is considered paper documentation.
- Online documentation refers to documents that are designed to be read from the screen. For example, a PDF file that has an aspect ratio designed for screen viewing is considered online documentation. A context-sensitive help system is another type of online documentation.
User guides are often most frequently used when people are starting to work with a software application. For readers, a printed user guide has the following advantages compared to an online user guide:
- Easy to write notes on the user guide.
- Can read away from the screen. This is particularly important if there is much conceptual information to read.
- No necessity to switch repeatedly between the online help window and the software application itself.
Sometimes, people need both reference information and step-by-step instructions for doing tasks. A good practical combination is to supply a printed (or printable) software user guide, and a context-sensitive online help system that contains the reference information.
Sometimes, it is useful to produce an online user guide. For example, if there is little conceptual information to tell people, and if the tasks that people perform do not need much explanation, an online user guide is an effective way of helping people to use software.
Software companies sometimes supply printable user guides in electronic format only. That is a business decision. If your software sells for £19.99, you may be justified in asking your customers to bear the cost and effort of printing a user guide. However, many users expect a printed user guide, specially if they have purchased expensive software.
