Many Bible software applications seem to be dropping the traditional printed manual and choose to refer users to the online help, video tutorials, and so on. This is pretty much the trend nowadays, but do you think there is still value in reading detailed printed manuals?

I'd also like to know what people think about printABLE manuals. For SwordSearcher I've created a PDF manual that people can print. Since not everyone uses manuals, it keeps costs down not to print one for every copy, and the PDF file can be easily printed for off-line browsing if the user likes.

I for one do not believe we need printed manuals any more. Pdf or Html Manuals are all we need. Although it may take a little effort to become comfortable with Pdf/html reading. I do realize that very few people enjoy reading from their monitor, but I think that a manual is served well in this format. I also believe that the use of sound and visuals for the tutorials are a must.

Brandon, you've made a good point there. A nicely formatted PDF file, with screenshots and all, is almost as good as a printed manual, IMO. But trying to print directly from the online help can be very frustrating...

All software should have a manual that can be accessed without either firing up the program, or going onto the Internet. The ability for the user to print out the manual, is more important than providing a printed manual.

That said, it is a toss up between ODF and PDF.

The virtue of PDF is that what is seen on the screen is what is printed out.
The virtue of ODF is that the user can edit the document, to include things that are important for them.

jonathon

Considering that The Sword Project generates no printed material at all, there's no reason for us to do so for manuals. The GnomeSword manual is available as part of the GNOME documentation browser, "yelp"; it can be printed from there if the user wishes. I also maintain the manual as a Sword module, so that it can be used from within Sword UIs themselves.