Onscreen Documentation

Onscreen documentation can mirror printed docs, or they can differ markedly and exploit the nature of the electronic medium.

Printed documentation is getting rarer nowadays: it is slow and expensive to print and transport, it's slow to update, it's heavy and bulky. Colour is rarely used because it's wickedly expensive.

Electronic onscreen documentation is quick to update, it can be copied easily, it can be transmitted electronically, huge amounts of data will fit onto a CD, color is free, animation can be used. Most importantly, hyperlinks can link related topics, and masses of data can be easily searched.

Tools for creating onscreen documentation:

- web pages
- Flash
- kiosk-mode slideshow
- Windows Help file
- a custom Visual Basic program
- a Wiki

Word or PDF documents are not onscreen ... they are meant to be printed and lack typical onscreen doc features such as links, animation, multimedia.