What do you prefer to read documentation and books on?

I'm in the middle of writing a tutorial and have reached the point where I need to decide what format(s) the documentation should be in. I'm a mild-mannered technical author by day, so I'm naturally interested in exploring new ways of providing my docs and I have plenty of suitable tools.

What do you prefer? Are you an old-school printed book type? Do you like to view docs and manuals on an iPad? A Kindle? Etc.

Also, let me know if I've missed out any preferred formats.

 

I like printed books. I don't really read ebooks.

 

I prefer hard copies, but due to medical reasons I have to read digital books from a backlit display (so kindle and nook are out of the question). I generally read books off of my phone.

 

PDF.

1. can be printed if the reader wishes
2. looks the same on all computers
3. supports images and diagrams
4. can merely drag into chrome if have no pdf reader

 

I was reading a PDF when I clicked on this thread.

 

Everything but online.

Printed is best for reading... but are cumbersome.
PDF's are generally good - particularly as it's easy to navigate.
I have a kindle and like it, but it's navigation prevents skimming/jumping around which is a bit of a nuisance for learning - great for novels.

Don't think CMS/wiki is a good fit though.

 

I prefer to read things in hard copy. If its something short, or used for quick reference, I prefer PDF. PDFs ensure that everyone can use them, they can be formatted to be visually easier on the eyes (no wall of text), and since I typically have 8 copies of Word running, the PDF is much easier to find and access in my task bar.

In this wonderful, digital age, it seems we have more space for books on our desks than we have space for icons in our task bars.

 

pdf is a format that's proprietry, but so popular and well supported that it's by far my favourite format - for reading and writing docs to. I'm a big fan of OO too but that's besides the point. I believe pdf has been described as unsuitable for ebook readers as a general solution - so maybe check out what the preferred options are there as well. I still prefer paper to ebook devices myself. takes me a while to read a book and I figure the investment is usually worth it.

 

I prefer book or online. Online is easily searchable, gets indexed solidly with search engines, etc

Book if I can because I hate staring at a screen and I can read brown paper after spilling my coffee on my book, kindle or laptop doesn't stain well.

 

I'm surprised that so many people like printed material. I've never been able to stand the feel of dry paper on my hands! And lack of searchability is for old luddites. iPad is definitely the best reading experience I've had.

 

I hope you NEVER write a DB because searching is lame - indexes are awesome

 

iPad burns you eyes.

I think it really depends on what kind of tutorial you are writing about.

Does it needs to provide dynamics example (like a Photoshop tutorial) ?
is it technical, unstructured and rely heavily on hyperlink (like the unity reference) ?
Or maybe it's really chronological (like a training course where you start from zero) ?

Each one would benefit from it's own support

 

Everytime before i read the forum, i print out the interesting threads on my silent 7x7 dot matrix printer and hope that there won't be new posts whilst it's printing. I also printed out the documentation this way and everytime there is a new release, i paper the room.

Beside of this i enjoy real books and newspapers, staring at ordinary screens or eInk driven readers, they are a huge difference compared to ordinary tablets.

 

Online all the way. Unity has an amazing documentation system if you ask me, I love being able to search what I want in seconds, and everything is listed in detail. Once more you can keep it up to date constantly, without needing to print something out, or distribute a new PDF every time something changes.

The only way I could understand why people would prefer printed documentation is if they don't have a dual monitor setup, and like being able to read and work side by side.

 

Can it depend? If I'm reading a book or research material, I want a printed copy. I write all over it and it just feels good in my hands. If it's a reference manual, then I just want it online... for reference.

Gigi.

 

If i'm reading a paper cover to cover then I like printed so I can write in the margins, but it made captain planet sad so I read PDFs on the computer now.

 

Hmm. Lots of interesting replies. Like Jessy, I'm surprised at how many people prefer hard copy. I prefer ebooks / online myself, and I'm in my early 40s. I find books more tiring on the eyes in print form than on my (new) iPad, for example.

However, as many folks here are asking about specifically what it is I'm working on: it's the documentation for a tutorial built in Unity. It'll be broadly linear, but split by script / asset group for ease of searching.

As I can't offer a printed book, the only option for that is to offer a printable PDF. I have no problem providing one of those.

I'm interested in ebook reader usage though. The Kindle's e-Ink display—the "Fire" still isn't available over here—and iPad "retina" LCD are very different experiences for reading. I like the Kindle, but I'm not sure it's a good fit for tutorials and guides. It seems to be specifically targeted at very linear, text-heavy media like novels and not a lot else.

I do have an iPad and Apple's "iBooks Author". I also have some free time and a desire to learn how to use the latter tool, which also exports to both ePUB (v2) and PDF. So those formats are a given. But I'm surprised by all the requests for PDF. I've always found it rather clunky myself.

I truly hate the typical "wiki" design. It offers terrible navigation and legibility for complex subjects. It's fine if all you're offering is a bunch of barely-related topics on all things under the sun (e.g. an encyclopaedia), but it lacks features for studying a subject in a particular order. (E.g. studying a period of history using a chronological timeline requires lots of manual effort that makes QA harder than it really ought to be.)

So every platform currently has its pros and cons. Not everyone has an iPad, so I know the "iBook" format version I'm making isn't going to be of use to many users. But Android-based platforms—including Amazon's Kindle Fire—have plenty of ePub v2 readers. And converting ePUB 2 to the Kindle (and older .mobi) formats is trivial using tools like Calibre.

The key is to get an idea of what platforms developers are using, so I know where to put most of my effort. If half the planet still prefers printed PDFs, there's little point in making the effort to include embedded animations or videos. That determines what, and how, I'll approach the documentation both now and in future projects.

I suspect the Unity folks might be interested in the results too.

 

Good ol' school hard copy.

And nice PDF's for documentation (that I usually end up printing out anyway)

 

To be honest I need video when it comes to Unity - Walker boys literally taught me how to code with their videos...

 

I always instinctively do the ctrl+F motion when I'm reading anything printed....

 

Stuff printed, give me the animated smiles!

 

I spend too much time in front of a monitor anyway - and when working with Unity I like to reserve my screen space for it (only one monitor).

What I really like is having Kindle versions (iirc PDFs can be pushed onto it, but there is no guarantee that they are displayed faithfully), so I can read through the tutorials and try them on the PC without having to switch between tabs/windows.

 

I think the big difference between digital and hard copy is that, if I'm just trying to learn something or study, I don't want to be sitting at my computer. I'll lounge on the couch or go to a coffee shop and read. I'm not trying to do any work at that point.

Granted, this is also possible with a tablet, but, since I've never bothered to get one...

 

I had the option of using eBooks for school instead of buying texts, and it was literally painful. After staring at the screen, combined with thinking really hard for an extended period of time, my eyes became dried and burned painfully for weeks, I also noticed after reading for hours I'd constantly keep leaning closer and closer to the screen. I had to wear sunglasses when looking at the screen for a couple weeks.

It was just like when I burned my eyes welding without a mask as a kid and had blisters on my eyeballs, just minus the blisters but they were swollen and burned, even when lying in bed trying to fall asleep in complete darkness.

I'm at the computer 12+ hours per day and never had the same physical problem surfing documentation, the web, etc. as I did when trying to read a 500+ page eBook for a Microsoft exam on operating systems.....I found as I read new information I'd constantly lean closer and closer, focusing on trying to understand the section, probably blinking less/staring for longer durations.

I do have a tablet but haven't tried using it yet for reading books. I imagine it wouldn't have the problem a monitor has with leaning closer or being too bright.

 

I vastly prefer pdf. Whether on a side window or laptop to the side, or on a tablet with android and ezPDF.... they are way more functional than printed books, which get worn, are bulky, heavy, and can't be revised easily. With ezPDF on my Kindle Fire (android), I can bookmark, annotate, freehand annotate and highlight, etc. It is beautifully simple and more efficient to read and look references up from. Also can resize text and formatting easily. By simply lowering the brightness a scrap on the Fire, it is comfy to read from for extended periods.