[Info-vax] HP stopping VMS paper documentation ?

[Jan-Erik Soderholm]

AEF wrote 2011-11-28 12:04:
> On Nov 26, 5:15 pm, Jan-Erik Soderholm<jan-erik.soderh... at telia.com>
> wrote:
>> Fritz Wuehler wrote 2011-11-26 22:07:
>>
>>> Jan-Erik Soderholm<jan-erik.soderh... at telia.com>    wrote:
>>>> Everyone professionall enough reads the PDFs on a laptop or
>>>> similar, not on the target system you are supporting, of course.
>>
>>> I disagree with this. I've been writing code for a long time and it was
>>> definitely easier and I still prefer having a manual open on the desk for
>>> reference.
>>
>> You missed the point.
>> What I was commenting was reading the manuals on the VMS system itself.
>> This part :
>>
>>   >>  JF Mezei wrote 2011-11-23 18:58:
>>   >>>  paper is also necessary when you do work at the SRM level or very low
>>   >>>  level (such as SYSBOOT) where your system has not booted sufficiently
>>   >>>  for you to access on-line documentation.
>>
>> That was just silly. Noone would use the VMS system itself to
>> read the docs. Today...
>>
>>> Switching back and forth from where you are editing code to a
>>> manual in PDF is extremely disruptive, and searching using Acrobat takes
>>> longer than finding the information in a manual (even a very large one) if
>>> you know the manual from years of using it. Paper manuals are a clear win
>>> on this alone. I like having a full set of printed doc around and I prefer
>>> real books as well.
>>
>> Then you expect to do all your work at some specific physical place.
>> Or do you always bring your bookshelf (the "wall") with you?
>
> Yes, some of us don't travel from site to site like you do.
>
> Even if you do, you can still use the wall at your regular workplace.
>
>>
>> I do have an "office" but I'm not very much there. Mostly I work from home
>> or at the customer sites. The PDF's weight *way* less then the binders! :-)
>
> "weigh way" reminds me of a push-cart hot dog street vendor who has
> this on his push cart: We're on a roll!
>
>>
>> For lookup reference I prefer PDF.
>
> Why do pdf's always come up in some stupid format/size/whatever. You
> always have to adjust it to fit a single page in the window.

I don't. I adjust it so it is easily readable, of course.
Usualy (for me) that means "adjust to window width". I use full
page for quick browsing ("paging") through a document. But the
text itself is hardly readable in full page, of course.

There is nothing that matches a PDF for electronic docs today.

> WTF isn't
> the default view ever something reasonable.

As far as I know, it was set when the PDF was saved/created.
So it's (or can be) different from PDF to PDF.

> Why is it often some
> random, "non-prime" fraction of a page that fills the window at
> startup? Then the font is too small to read easily.

Isn't the font even smaller in full page view ?