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Post by michelb on Aug 3, 2018 9:19:53 GMT
New information from Pete Green:
The pdf help version for PSE15 could not be retrieved and added to the list of older versions help files.
I really advise to use the present PSE 2018 help file, practically, you'll find very little difference.
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Post by Major Major on Aug 3, 2018 14:36:48 GMT
Does anyone else think it's preposterous that ADOBE had trouble generating a pdf file?
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Post by michelb on Aug 3, 2018 16:50:46 GMT
Does anyone else think it's preposterous that ADOBE had trouble generating a pdf file? The problem (the real one) is not generating a pdf file (the old pdf file is still available, including in my computer...) From the experience of other ACPs at Adobe, there has been a disastrous trend in recent years to neglect the pdf help and to rely mainly on the online help. This could be seen in Elements, where previous help files were simply updated for the new features, and you had to open them to know which version it was about  . You can imagine there was a lot of bitter complaints about that and finally, Adobe took the decision to completely rework ALL pdf help files. That means perhaps twenty different softwares including very heavy ones (more than one thousand pages for some...) My guess is that this has been outsourced with the goal to get the pdfs more in line with the online help. A really gigantic work which is not yet finished.
The issue of the availability of older versions appeared soon afterwards. I would say: stay tuned!
Beside my former advice: to use the latest and current version, I may add to store those help files on your computer for future use.
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Post by Major Major on Aug 3, 2018 17:42:08 GMT
Does anyone else think it's preposterous that ADOBE had trouble generating a pdf file? there has been a disastrous trend in recent years to neglect the pdf help and to rely mainly on the online help.
Which is the fault of the software companies, many of whom provide only online help, so people get accustomed to it. |
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Post by Sepiana on Aug 4, 2018 1:10:13 GMT
michelb , thanks for posting this information! Great tip -- use the PSE 2018 pdf help for PSE 15! Very sage advice as well -- save the PDF file on your computer.
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Post by Bailey on Aug 4, 2018 1:44:18 GMT
Which is the fault of the software companies, many of whom provide only online help, so people get accustomed to it. Hi Major Major, I hear where you are coming from on this one loud and clear  . There are obvious pros and cons for both off-line pdf files and online (HTML) help information. Personally I much prefer the online help, but coming from a web programming/database administration background I am probably biased . Generally speaking, if done properly I find online help manuals much more user friendly because of the ability to use hyperlinks to other sections in the manual and/or to other related resources on the http://www. PDF files can make the use of hyperlinks as well to other resources but then you would need access to the www anyway. Whenever I need help on "How to" something (PSE, PRE or whatever) I find Google the quickest and best resource for me and the only time I would consider downloading a pdf file is if I was going to a region where there was no or unreliable access to the www. |
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Post by Sepiana on Aug 4, 2018 2:11:57 GMT
Adobe took the decision to completely rework ALL pdf help files. That means perhaps twenty different softwares including very heavy ones (more than one thousand pages for some...) My guess is that this has been outsourced with the goal to get the pdfs more in line with the online help. A really gigantic work which is not yet finished.
Michel, what a mammoth of a job! I was just checking the Help pdf files for Photoshop CC (over 900 pages) and Lightroom Classic CC (almost 300 pages). Kudos to Adobe!
I am sure, as you are an ACP, you will be getting the latest "scoop" before we do. Keep us posted! |
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Post by Bailey on Aug 4, 2018 2:33:27 GMT
yes, maintaining both off-line and online help manuals up to date is a significant task for software manufacturers which is one of the reasons why they are tending towards online help only which reduces costs and takes up less of their resources.
But it's not only software manufacturers. Many hardware manufacturers ship only "Quick Start" guides with their products and you need to go to their web site if you want a detailed user manual.
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Post by Sepiana on Aug 4, 2018 2:43:11 GMT
Beside my former advice: to use the latest and current version, I may add to store those help files on your computer for future use. Michel, great advice! I am with you on this one! That's what I have been doing since the days of PSE 4. The Help pdf files for all the PSE versions I have are stored on two computers and on an external HD drive. |
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Post by Bailey on Aug 4, 2018 2:55:58 GMT
... From the experience of other ACPs at Adobe, there has been a disastrous trend in recent years to neglect the pdf help and to rely mainly on the online help. ... Hi michelb I'm not really sure what the hoo-ha would have been about. I prefer online help for the reasons I posted earlier. It would be interesting to know if Adobe did a survey of user preferences or simply succumbed to a number of complaints. Or maybe it was just the way the help files were structured which was not very user friendly. I would be very surprised if a properly run survey showed less than 50% users preferred online help. |
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Post by michelb on Aug 4, 2018 10:16:55 GMT
... From the experience of other ACPs at Adobe, there has been a disastrous trend in recent years to neglect the pdf help and to rely mainly on the online help. ... Hi michelb I'm not really sure what the hoo-ha would have been about. I prefer online help for the reasons I posted earlier. It would be interesting to know if Adobe did a survey of user preferences or simply succumbed to a number of complaints. Or maybe it was just the way the help files were structured which was not very user friendly. I would be very surprised if a properly run survey showed less than 50% users preferred online help. I am quite sure that Adobe have enough external surveys and monitoring of users activity to know when and how online help is used and how often .pdf help files are downloaded. They have the users complaints in their many forums, but they are more inclined to listen to the detailed argumentation of their many ACPs and MVPs who are volunteering to provide targeted help to users. And there is no doubt that as an ACP, I need to back up my answers with data from those help pdf files or from a host of ad hoc help docs. There is unanimity about the need of pdf files from all ACPs and MVPs. This is also a 'biased' opinion.
- online help is not always available - most of the time, for Elements, the contents of the pdfs are more detailed. Unfortunately, the recent trend to offer the same contents online and in pdf means reduced content.
- most of the time, I can't find the topic for an answer in the Elements online help. That's because it lacks the ability to search by text. A Ctrl F in the help file gets the result easily. That does not mean that help for Elements is bad. Contextual help and video tutorials are probably much better than for competitors.
If you browse the feedback forum, especially with LR questions, you'll see how frequently new features are added or changed under the pressure of users who want everything done as they expect instead of taking the time to learn the software. Online help is a priority in this case. This brings the question of the changing behaviour of software users. Always in a hurry, always in search of magical tricks, an less and less inclined to read a manual or help file. When online help is a priority, the subscription model of the CC cloud works better than with Elements, where support is only available with the current version. Elements is far from being a priority for Adobe. I am often guilty of mentioning the 'typical Elements user'. I should rather say the 'spectrum of Elements users'. It ranges from newcomers without any knowledge about computers to experienced Photoshop users wanting to escape the subscription model. Ideally, the pdf help should provide the same service as external books like the "Missing manual".
I also agree that using Google to search for a detailed search based on text is much better than the 'search' function in the forums. Especially when adding 'Adobe.helpx' in the search criteria. The result may be excellent... or false and outdated.
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Post by Bailey on Aug 5, 2018 4:17:21 GMT
Thank you michelb
btw and fwiw, you can also do text search in online help's web pages. Most browsers have a "Find" menu option (in Firefox it's under the Edit tab), the short-cut is also Ctrl+F, which allow users to search for text strings in a web page. I don't use it very often, but occasionally when I want to find a text string in a long web page.
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Post by Sepiana on Aug 5, 2018 19:59:27 GMT
Ideally, the pdf help should provide the same service as external books like the "Missing manual". Michel, yes, indeed. Now that O'Reilly has ceased publishing this book series (the book that should have been in the box), I believe the pdf help is the next best thing for Elements users.
I have quite a collection of these books. I couldn't help but notice how the pdf help format so closely resembles Barbara's work.
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