Printed Documentation Manuals

[Brandon C]

Based on this topic, I decided to conduct a poll. Would you buy a printed documentation manual from IPS for IP.Board and other products? If so, how much would you be willing to pay for one printed documentation manual? Discuss here.

[Charles]

What a confusing poll.

[stobbo]

It did baffle me a bit :P

Anyway I voted, I said it would depend on shipping and handling, and would be willing to pay $20, although it would depend on its quality.

[Brandon C]

Oh good, it worked! :ph34r: ;)

[Michael P]

I think with new licenses it should come free, but thats just my view.

[Charles]

I think with new licenses it should come free, but thats just my view.

:lol: you're funny

Sure we'll just hire a printing company, package these up, bring them to a shipper, and pay shipping all for free! When we raise the license price to compensate everyone remember this post lol

[stobbo]

And you arn't funny :P

Anyway why not print them in house?

[Charles]

Each one is about 150 pages... I don't think our printer would enjoy us sending a print job to make 100 copies. Plus I can't really picture the support guys sitting down and making nice little bound copies of this :)

[Michael P]

:lol: you're funny

Sure we'll just hire a printing company, package these up, bring them to a shipper, and pay shipping all for free! When we raise the license price to compensate everyone remember this post lol

I was thinking moreso because you already increased the license costs - would be a nice extra for people buying a new license, you could always charge for shipping. Again, its just what I think, I know perfectly well its not something you would do :P

[VelvetElvis]

I bought the book Packt Publishing put out. I consider myself owed.

I'm old enough to remember when you had to pay thousands of dollars for a UNIX license and still had to print and bind the manuals yourself. I was about 8 and mostly remember being told to get my hands out of the printer, but still.

I'd rather have useful reference materials in any form than bad docs on paper. I'd rather have well written and commented source code than bad docs, actually. This is an area where IPB really stands out against the competition. Anyone who's done much with phpbb mods knows what I'm talking about.

[stobbo]

Each one is about 150 pages... I don't think our printer would enjoy us sending a print job to make 100 copies. Plus I can't really picture the support guys sitting down and making nice little bound copies of this :)

Buy a new printer and look the support guys in the basement. :thumbsup:

[.Ryan]

Or we get one and pay the shipping and handling.

[Mark]

^ Then people would complain about the lack of support :D

I think about $20-5 would be reasonable

[elj]

I'm sure locking the staff in the basement will be popular with everyone. Everyone in favour say 'aye'... :ph34r:

From what I gather the manuals are free to customers anyway (right? you can download them as PDFs?) so people would be free to print them off themselves, but obviously the printing costs for IPS, as does getting it bound (it'd depend what kind of binding it was for me, because if it's certain types they don't last very long). Obviously we can see the documentation beforehand, but I would like information on what kind of binding will be used before I'd buy it.

I'd probably pay up to $30 including shipping, I think that's a fair price. I know from personal experience it'd probably cost

[Michael P]

From what I gather the manuals are free to customers anyway (right? you can download them as PDFs?) so people would be free to print them off themselves, but obviously the printing costs for IPS, as does getting it bound (it'd depend what kind of binding it was for me, because if it's certain types they don't last very long). Obviously we can see the documentation beforehand, but I would like information on what kind of binding will be used before I'd buy it.

I'd probably pay up to $30 including shipping, I think that's a fair price. I know from personal experience it'd probably cost

[Brandon C]

I believe they are reffering to binding as in the binding on a book, so I'm assuming it would be in a book form.

[stobbo]

aye!

Anyway, I think $20 for documentation with plastic binding to keep it together is reasonably. If it was a book form I would say $30 would be reasonably. But if it is free to print of the IPS Site, would people actually buy it?

[Michael P]

I believe they are reffering to binding as in the binding on a book, so I'm assuming it would be in a book form.

Ah, I see!

[elj]

Im not sure what they mean by binding. When I hear binding I think of punching twenty square holes along an edges, and placing a plastic bind through them. Which is why I think $30 is quite extreme for that.

If they mean binding as in getting it printed into proper book form, then that seems like a good price.

Depends on what they are referring.

That was my issue with binding - last time I tried a plastic binder the whole thing fell apart after a bit of use. Obviously there are other ways of binding (some less professional than others... stapling, anyone? :whistle:) but I'm sure we won't be ripped off. It's in everyone's interests to have long-lasting documentation, as, barring minor feature enhancements/modifications, it's probably a a good few months between version increments (and therefore documentation changes).

On a slightly related note, I'm intending on looking through the documentation available in depth at some point soon. If we find errors (typos, etc) in the documentation at all where should these be reported to? :)

[stobbo]

That was my issue with binding - last time I tried a plastic binder the whole thing fell apart after a bit of use. Obviously there are other ways of binding (some less professional than others... stapling, anyone? :whistle:) but I'm sure we won't be ripped off. It's in everyone's interests to have long-lasting documentation, as, barring minor feature enhancements/modifications, it's probably a a good few months between version increments (and therefore documentation changes).

On a slightly related note, I'm intending on looking through the documentation available in depth at some point soon. If we find errors (typos, etc) in the documentation at all where should these be reported to? :)

Personally I would make a topic about it in the Feedback Forum. Because it doesn't really fit in the bug tracker.

[Charles]

A couple months ago we looked into it and I think, with shipping in the US, our cost was around $20 or so. Given that we would probably charge like $20 - $25 to handle fluctuations in printing/shipping costs and the money lost on transactions. Obviously we are not out to make money on printed documentation - just want to cover the costs involved in dealing with it.

Of course if anyone prefers they can always download the PDF and print it out.

When we say bound we mean the sprial plastic binding type. The sample we had printed a couple months ago was a real high-quality plastic binding. We were quite happy with the result. When we offer a printed copy for sale we'll post a pic of what you will be getting so it's clearer.

[VelvetElvis]

If we're talking something along the lines of an API reference, do it loose leaf with holes pre-puched and let people supply their own binders. Otherwise I'd break the binding on something like that in less than a year. You could then sell subscriptions to errata and updates at minimal cost.

Is there any particular reason why IPS doesn't have a wiki for docs like most other software projects btw?

[China J]

Of course if anyone prefers they can always download the PDF and print it out.

Ok, I prefer the method that Charles suggested of downloading the PDF for free. This way the pages don't get old, you can use the search feature for phrases and last but not least, we are living in the digital ages... not the dark ages lol. If the pdf is provided in the ipb download package, thats good enough for me. I can use my own printer for what pages I necessarily need to print. :rolleyes:

[stobbo]

If we're talking something along the lines of an API reference, do it loose leaf with holes pre-puched and let people supply their own binders. Otherwise I'd break the binding on something like that in less than a year. You could then sell subscriptions to errata and updates at minimal cost.

Is there any particular reason why IPS doesn't have a wiki for docs like most other software projects btw?

In the Client Center there is a knowledge base which is similar to a Wiki.

[mliving]

Gee since when did getting proper documentation require this kind of begging.

Considering the amount of money I've spent on IPB I would expect FREE access to a downloadable PDF.

And while we're on the topic. A downloaded version of the latest SDK would be nice. Can't see IPB growing in a positive way without building a strong and WELL DOCUMENTED development kit.

Of course I have found that documentation is NOT IPB's strong suit. JMHO