Xref: utzoo comp.sys.amiga:45673 comp.sys.ibm.pc:39971 comp.sys.mac:44235 comp.unix.questions:18440 Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!dialogic!dialogic.UUCP!gerry From: gerry@dialogic.UUCP (Gerry Lachac) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga,comp.sys.ibm.pc,comp.sys.mac,comp.unix.questions Subject: SUMMARY/RESULTS: Binders VS Non-binders survey (LONG) Message-ID: <1014@dialogic.UUCP> Date: 14 Dec 89 20:23:31 GMT Sender: news@dialogic.UUCP Reply-To: gerry@dialogic.UUCP (Gerry Lachac) Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga Organization: Dialogic Corp., Parsippany, NJ Lines: 145 INTRODUCTION ------------ This posting is summary of all the responses I received to the Binders VS Non-Binders documentation issue. I would like to thank everyone who took the time to respond, I really appreciate it. (Really, I do!) The response was excellent. I received a total of 90 replies. A good number of people wanted to see the results (at least 20 or so) and I have decided to post to the same groups I originally asked the question in. The remainder of this posting is a breakdown of the responses I received, followed by quotes and my personal analysis. I have divided the responses into the following groups: FOR BINDERS: These are people who explicitedly said "I prefer binders" AGAINST BINDERS: These are people who either preferred spiral/wire-O or glue type binding. NEUTRAL: Actually I labeled this group "wishy-washy" :-) These are people who basicly said "Glue is good for this, binders good for this, wire-o good for this." There were some good observations from this group, they just never stated which they preferred overall. After the numbers I also include anonymous quotes from the three categories. These are comments that I thought were interesting. NUMBERS ------- FOR BINDERS: 52 (58%) AGAINST BINDERS: 23 (26%) NEUTRAL: 15 (16%) ----------------------- Total: 90 QUOTES ------ "It depends on the size of the manual, but I prefer it to be glued. I have had lots of problems with pages getting ripped out of the O- and wire-ring binders too easily." "Glued, any day. If by "Binders" you mean the usual American 3-pronged variety then they're bloody useless. " "Glued manuals are the WORST. I like to be able to open a manual to the page I need and have it stay there." "The only real excuse for binders is that they make it easy for the vendor to update the manual. However, that's to their benefit, not mine, and they almost never do it anyway." "Also, documentation in ring binders can be photocopied." "Binders; there is no substitute. Ever want to add your own notes to a binder? Just punch a few holes in a piece of paper, & add it to the binder." "My only objection to spiral binding is that all manuals look alike from the spiral side. Many manufacturers overcome this by making one of the covers longer, so that it folds over a forms a pseudo-spine along the non-bound side. You can then keep the volumes with the spiral binders facing in and the pseudo-spines, with titles, facing you." "Binders. Binders are easier to update. Simply send the replacement pages along in an 8 x 11 envelope and I can insert them myself. I like to keep my own notes, especially in technical documentation, and with binders, I can insert pages at will." "I personally prefer the small three ring binders that come in their own storage box (such as comes with SuperPaint or IBM DOS manuals). This makes for nice storage in my bookshelves (and easy access to the manuals) as well as allowing me to put any additional material into the manual." "I prefer three ring binders and would like to see them all in 8.5 X 11 size and get rid of the smaller 6 X 9 size." "BINDERS are best if it's likely that revisions/upgrades/etc. will be made, and pages are to be added or removed from the manual. I prefer round rings to the D-shaped ones, especially for thick manuals. I find it nearly impossible to turn lots of pages at once (say, to get to the index) if the manual has D-shaped rings." "O-ring binders are okay, in that you can get them to lay flat, and they usually stay together pretty well. They are probably the best compromise between binders and glued/paperback manuals. (Note, though, that I much prefer metal spirals to plastic -- They hold up a lot better.)" OBSERVATIONS ------------ People overwhelmingly chose binders over anything else. There was still a split as to the size of the binder. Most people preferred "bigger" (8-1/2 X 11) over the smaller sizes. People who like binders want reinforced last pages that don't tear out. People who preferred spiral/wire-o binding liked the fact that it laid flat and could be folded over to display only one page. People who preferred binders argued for the "flat" aspect as well. People who liked spiral/wire-o binding stressed the importance of an "overlapping flap" that let them identify the manual when it was on the bookshelf. People generally hated glue-bound. The exceptions to this were read-once manuals (such as intros) and people from Sweden. :-) [ The latter is a personal observation, but out of the 5 people who said they liked glued manuals, 4 responses were from Sweden. There were responses from Sweden who preferred other types of bindings, but I thought the demographics of people who preferred glued bindings were interesting enough to note.] ENDING COMMENTS and OBLIGATORY DISCLAIMER ----------------------------------------- There you have it, the results of a two-week informal USENET survey. Anyone who wants any more info on responses feel free to leave me email. Any conclusions you want to draw from this, you can. Any opinions expressed in this posting are my own or quoted from mailings. uunet!dialogic!gerry | "Even a dead plant turns | Dialogic Corporation OR | over a new leaf | 300 Littleton Rd gerry@dialogic.UUCP | when the wind blows." | Parsippany, NJ 07054 | | (201)334-1268 X193