Moreover, many product manufacturers are inclined to provide the technical documentation of their products for mobile or small display devices. The advantages for users and manufacturers are obvious:
- Handy documentation, in pocket-size format
- Quick navigation, full text search, optical scalability, integration of multimedia
- Bookmarks and adjustable filters, context sensitivity, interactivity, responsiveness
- User assistance with Augmented Reality
- Updatable online
- Option of sending feedback to manufacturers on product and documentation
On the technical and organizational side, however, challenges arise with regard to the creation process:
- Limited tracking for texts and graphic resolution on devices with dot-matrix display
- Metadata concept required for user-oriented search, navigation and configuration options
- Context sensitivity desirable in software documentation
- Risk of technical overload due to high functional variety
- Single source-based creation process recommended for online, mobile and paper documentation
- Cross-platform format required on standard mobile end devices
- Durability and availability as legal aspects
On the technical level, the challenges can be mastered with highly developed software tools, using which the highest organizational hurdles can also be overcome. On the level of content, the use of proven XML structures, such as e.g. HTML5, DITA or even ATA iSpec 2200, is advisable.
To sum up: To obtain the advantages of electronic documentation, a high outlay for tools and creation is unavoidable.
