April/May 2006

Volume 46, Number 5

Tips from the Trenches

by Deb Lockwood

Paper or plastic? or "Paper or vapor"? This was a question that I posted recently to my fellow technical communicators asking whether they prefer to read documentation on paper or online.

I love paper copies of books. There's something so satisfying about being able to touch the paper, to hear the pages turn. Plus, if the document is full of reference material I will usually stick a Post-It Note on a relevant page so that it is easy to find again.

And although documentation has been going online for several years, I still find it difficult to read and concentrate for any length of time using a computer monitor. In fact, I find it more difficult as the years go by and my eyes age.

From an environmental perspective, the impact of printing on paper is substantial. More than 100 million tons of paper is printed in the United States every year (according to a study on the Society for Neuroscience's Web site at www.sfn.org). And "although the USA represents less than five percent of the world's population, it consumes more than a quarter of the world's paper and printed products." That number certainly gives one pause.

The questions I asked were:

• Which do you prefer: paper copy or online?
• If you have made the switch to online, what tips can you share with those of us who haven't (e.g., resolution, monitor type, darkened room)?
• Do you both read and edit online?
• Anything else you want to share about this topic?

I would like to thank my fellow RMC members who shared their insights. Their contributions appear below in alphabetical order.

Cynthia Arbuckle

I actually prefer paper documentation because I love books, but if the online help is good, I also like to get a quick answer.

Here's a tip: use a font that's easy to read onscreen, and make it large enough for those of us with aging eyes. Make it procedural in nature. If I have to read a lot, I'd rather have a book.

I read online, but when I do my final edits, I do it on paper. The onscreen version looks too pretty, and I miss errors that way.

For several years we produced only online help for our applications. Now we're going back to producing both online help and hardcopy guides. It's easier and less expensive now, because the Portable Document Format (PDF) has become so prevalent. If you give the end users a PDF of the docs, they can print it themselves!

Ron Arner

Which do I prefer: paper copy or online? It depends. For any lengthy reading and final editing, I prefer paper. For short reading/research, I stick with online to avoid wasting paper.

I like a darkened room; I feel the light from the monitor is more than enough. Also, at work, where I can't dim the lights, I use an ergonomic task light over my monitor to help diffuse the glare from fluorescent lighting.

I used to print everything out but I am trying to be more environmentally friendly.

Marella Colyvas

I do about a 60-40 mix, the higher percentage online. It depends on what I'm reading. If it's a novel, poetry, personal development, or general non-fiction, it has to be a paper book. I love the feel of certain types of paper and the weight of the book in my hands!

But if it's news, work information, technical papers, or even school assignments, I do all that reading online. Part of the reason is expediency—I used to print everything, but now I find that a very inefficient process. When I do print articles, managing the paper is difficult; for me, it becomes a never-ending, messy battle. Despising three-ring binders doesn't help.

I also find that if I don't read something online when it becomes available, the illusion of printing and reading it "at leisure" is just that—an illusion. It never happens. If I print it, I put it in a pile and forget about it, adding to the clutter problem. So if I have to read it, or want to and don't think it'll take long, I read it online. If not, well, I guess I didn't really need to read it after all and it goes in the bit bucket.

I do 99% of my editing online; writing, about 85% (the journal and morning pages, when I do them, I still do on paper).

Tips for reading online: Sans-serif font, window size large enough to aid those aging eyes, and bright resolution (but that's me, I like tons of light—my home office gets warm just from the computer, monitor, and high wattage of light I use). A dream of mine is to get a plasma screen monitor, but it's not a high priority.

Thomas L'Dara

I prefer to read from paper, and do whenever possible. Final reviews are always done with paper. I do read and edit online for Web pages and online help.

Lynn French

I've been writing mostly online documentation since the late 90s, but I still prefer paper myself. If I have to read something that requires concentration, I always print it. The same is true for editing.

I do think online documentation is OK for quick reference information, and I like having electronic versions of documentation for easy searching or copy/paste, but not to just read.

One thing I really dislike in online documentation is small chunks in many different files all linked together. I don't think it works well for online use and it certainly doesn't for printing! I know the small chunk paradigm is popular with some folks, but not with me. When I create documentation that doesn't have strict format requirements (e.g., internal documentation), I like to create it with both online and printed use in mind.

Linda Gallagher

Paper copy or online? It depends. If I'm working in a software product, I'll check the online help to find out how to complete a task or what an option means. However, if I need to really study the information (as when I'm going to teach a class or really need to learn a process and retain it), I prefer print.

I do love my 21" LCD monitor, but it has not had any effect on whether I read online help.

I'll read short documents online, such as a short response to a question or source information from a client. However, if the document is more than a couple of pages or contains key source information that I need to delve into deeply or check off that I've used, I'll print.

If I'm editing or proofing a formal document for a client, I always work from print. If I'm editing something less formal that's short (such as an STC article for someone else or feedback on a resume), I'll edit online.

My pet peeve is "online" documents or Web pages (by definition they're online) that use a serif font, like Times New Roman. They're hard to read and are not really for online use. One key product I use (I won't name it, but many of us use it for long books) has all of its so-called online help in Times New Roman. It's a real pain to read.

Al Kemp

I always prefer to read printed materials. As I state on page 14 of my White Paper Writing Guide (free download from www.ImpactOnTheNet.com/wp-guide.html), the resolution of a computer screen is 8-16% of laser printing and 2-4% of offset printing.

Of course, there is a huge amount of free material available online. The Internet is a vast, though not always accurate, encyclopedia.

When I'm reading online, I sometimes use my browser options to enlarge the type. Too many designers make the text too small because it looks good that way.

Also, I blink a lot, and I usually drink something. Focusing on the beverage container breaks up the eyestrain. I follow the usual rules about not having a bright light source directly behind the monitor. I have a diffused light source behind the monitor, and I like a fair amount of ambient light. Dark rooms increase my eyestrain.

My 20" CRT is set to 1152 x 870 resolution with a 75 Hz refresh rate. I hate small displays. I have been told that LCD displays are better, but I haven't been willing to pay for a large LCD yet. Plus, the CRT makes a great space heater in winter!

Although I often wordsmith online, I do a lot of substantial editing and rewriting off-line. Writing on paper is not only more intuitive for me, it helps control repetitive strain injury (RSI). I suffer from RSI in both wrists; writing by hand exercises different muscles than typing and mousing. Also, I tend to get caught up editing words when I'm working online. When I settle down with pen and paper, I am much more likely to rethink the ideas. At one job I was known as the Laserhog because I am so fond of editing printed materials by hand.

I don't want you to get the wrong idea, though. There was no handwriting involved in this e-mail message. I composed it 100 percent online!

Marsha Lofthouse

I still prefer paper copy when I'm reading for understanding. I also prefer to edit a paper copy. However, with Acrobat's relatively new editing tools, I'm starting to prefer to receive edits of my docs online.

Karen Miller

Paper! I'm afraid I'm old fashioned. I haven't tried to read a whole book online and suspect I wouldn't be able to stand it.

I do find it helpful when I'm editing online to change the size of the document, especially if I'm going to look over it more than once. For example, I might do my first pass at 108% and then a second pass at 120%. I don't like working in a darkened room.

I do most of my work editing online unless it's something critical. I find that I miss more typos online than on paper (although online editing is a lot faster than printing a copy, marking it, and then typing in changes online).

Tips? Just the old advice about taking frequent breaks to rest your eyes and take the kinks out of your neck, shoulders, and fingers. It does help, but it sure is hard to remember to do, especially if you have a tight deadline!

Martha Sippel

The developers I used to work with insisted that we turn off the fluorescent lights in large areas with cubicles. I hate reading online—squinting to see my computer monitor in the bright light of my office—and love paper books.

Hugh Templeton

I prefer to edit on paper, but almost half of my editing is online. I find that I must take a break a little more often when editing online (my eyes get tired more easily), but that my editing speed is about the same as on paper.

I prefer a slightly darkened area to edit online, but often do not get it. At work, I turn off the lights in my cube to reduce the glare on the screen. Also, when I edit online, I use FrameMaker or Adobe Acrobat (full version). When using Acrobat, I always highlight the text to be changed, and then use the Notes feature to make the actual change. You can use the Notes by themselves, but I have found that it's easier to find that actual spot of the change if you also use highlight.

If something is short, I usually read it online (unless it contains information I must use as reference in several locations). If something is several pages, and if I am reading just for fun, I do it on paper. If I am reading several pages for work, I prefer paper but often don't have a choice since a lot of work stuff comes in emails and attachments, and it's much quicker to read it online than to print and then read it on paper.

I usually beef up the size of the text (110 to 125% of normal) when reading online, because of the resolution of the monitor and because it makes the reading easier on my eyes. If I think I have found something in the document that got sized way too small (it shows up as a dot or Greeking), I zoom in until I can determine what it is. However, if something is long and involved, and if I want to make several passes at it or have it ready as source information for something I am writing, I print it to keep it available on paper.

The older I get, the more I want to stay with paper—simply because the monitor flicker gets to me more easily (and my monitor is really good).

Tammy Van Boening

Paper, paper, paper—to read and edit. Reading because I can't get comfortable sitting upright—I need to be able to adjust the book, to slouch, etc. Also, if I need to return to a previous page, it's a lot easier to paperclip/bookmark a true page rather than a virtual one, and it's much easier to flip back and forth between the compared pages and keep your point of reference straight.

Editing: paper because you get a much better perspective of layout, form, etc. and you can easily mark where you left off on a paper copy vs. online.

I don't know many people who prefer total online to printed paper—like, for example, trying to use Mif-2-Go's online document, because it was written for online only and does not flow sequentially. It jumps all over the place and if you want to print something coherent out, forget it-there are no page numbers, no flows, and it's a mess. Sometimes the "convenience" of no paper is much more of an inconvenience.

Contributors: Cynthia Arbuckle, Ron Arner, Marella Colyvas, Thomas L'Dara, Lynn French, Linda Gallagher, Al Kemp, Marsha Lofthouse, Karen Miller, Martha Sippel, Hugh Templeton, Tammy Van Boening