SCO seeking opinions on product documentation

[Ross Oliver]

              Audience Survey Questionnaire


The Technical Publications Department of The Santa Cruz Operation
wants to find out how you use SCO documentation for your own
personal use, and your opinion of it.  If you are a VAR or a
dealer who is interested in providing feedback from your
experience of end users, please write ...!uunet!sco!docsurvey
for a more appropriate form of this questionnaire.

To thank you for completing this questionnaire, SCO will send an
authentic SCO T-shirt to the first 50 respondents.  This fine,
white, short-sleeve T-shirt has a large SCO logo across the
front, and plain back.  Be the first one on your net to own this
great T-shirt by completing this questionnaire and sending the
results, along with your T-shirt size, to ...!uunet!sco!docsurvey.

This questionnaire is divided into sections, with each section
addressing a specific area:

  + Section 1 asks about your role with SCO products.

  + Section 2 determines the SCO products you use.

  + Section 3 addresses some general documentation issues.

  + Section 4 investigates documentation for particular SCO
    products.

  + Section 5 inquires about online documentation.

  + Section 6 addresses formatting and packaging issues.

  + Section 7 asks for additional comments.

Please complete the sections of the questionnaire you feel most
strongly about.  To complete a section, you will be asked to
answer questions.  When you are asked to rate items, use a scale
from 1 through 5, with 5 being the most important.  If none of
these numbers apply, use 0.


Section 1 -- Your Background

What do you do with SCO products?  Please place an X by each task
that applies.

   Use them?
   Install them?
   Administer them?
   Act as in-house expert?
   Resell them?
   Develop applications for them?
   Develop software for them?
   Develop device drivers for them?
   Develop or adapt hardware for them?


Section 2 -- SCO Products You Work With

Which SCO systems products do you use?  Please specify which
release in the space provided.  Also, please rate your current
familiarity with each product on a scale from 1 to 5, with 5
being very familiar.

Release   Familiarity   Product

		   	SCO XENIX Operating System
		   	SCO UNIX System	V/386 Operating	System
		   	SCO XENIX Development System
		   	SCO UNIX System	V/386 Development System
			TCP/IP under SCO XENIX
		   	TCP/IP under SCO UNIX System V/386
		   	NFS under SCO UNIX System V/386
		   	XENIX-NET
		   	SCO VP/ix

Which SCO applications products do you use?  Please specify which
release in the space provided.  Also, please rate your current
familiarity with each product on a scale from 1 to 5, with 5
being very familiar.

Release   Familiarity   Product

		   	SCO Lyrix
		   	SCO Professional
		   	SCO Integra
		   	SCO Portfolio
		   	SCO Portfolio Suite
		   	SCO Foxbase+
		   	Other (Please specify in the following space.)




Section 3 -- General Documentation Issues

Which do you typically do first -- read the documentation or
experiment with the software?  Please mark your answer below.

Read   Experiment


Do you have a set of documentation for your personal use, or
do you share it?  If you share, with how many other people?

Own   Share (number of people)


Was documentation a factor in your decision to purchase this
product?  If so, please indicate how strong a factor, using
a scale from 1 through 5, with 5 being the highest.

Rank 



Section 4 -- SCO Product Documentation

You can copy this section to complete information for each
product you use.

Product: 

Have you used a similar product?  If so, please specify in
the space below.



How would you compare SCO's documentation to this other product?
Please use a scale from 1 though 5, with 1 as SCO's documentation
being much worse and 5 as SCO's documentation being much better.

Rank 


Of the types of manuals that typically come with an SCO product,
please indicate how important each is to you.  Use a scale from 1
through 5, with 5 being the most important.

Importance    Guide

	      Tutorial
	      User's Guide
	      User's Reference (manual pages)
	      Quick Access Guide
	      Programmer's Guide
	      Programmer's Reference (manual pages)
	      System Administrator's Guide or Configuration Guide
	      Administrator's Reference (manual pages)
	      Release Notes or Release and Installation Notes
	      Other; please specify in the space below.



Please respond to the following questions on a scale of 1 to
5, where 5 is most favorable.

Rank   Question

       Does the organization of the manual set make sense to you?
       Does the organization of each manual make sense to you?
       Does each manual include all the relevant topics?
       Are the topics covered adequately and accurately?
       Are the examples, figures, and tables relevant to the text?
       Are there enough examples, figures, and tables?
       Is the index adequate?
       Is the installation and configuration information adequate?

If you answered unfavorably (rating of 1 or 2) to any of these
questions, please use the space below to elaborate on your
answers.



Which of the following methods do you use to find information?
Please rate the following methods on a scale from 1 through 5,
with 5 being most useful.  Use 0 for methods that you don't use.

Rank   Method

       Index
       Permuted index
       Table of contents
       Cross-references

Do you use any third-party books or articles to augment the SCO
documentation?  If so, please supply the title(s) in the space
below.



Do you produce any materials yourself?  If so, please describe
the materials in the space below.




Section 5 -- Online Documentation

Do you use SCO products that include help screens or online manual
pages?  Please mark an X in the appropriate column and show the
product in the space below.

Help Screens   Man Pages   Product




Please respond to the following questions with a number from
1 through 5, where 5 is the most important, very frequently,
or most effective.

Rank	Question

	How important is online documentation?

	If you use a product that has online help, how often 
	do you use it?

	How effective is SCO's current online help in providing 
	the information that you need?

In your opinion, which documentation that is currently shipped in
hardcopy format only would be most valuable if provided online?



What type of online documentation would you like the most?
Please place an X by each type that applies.

   Context-sensitive help screens linked to specific
   fields and forms

   Online reference manuals that compare in scope and
   volume to the written manuals

   Other; please specify in the space below




Section 6 -- Format and Packaging Issues

Please rate the following format issues on a scale from 1 through
5, with 5 being the most appealing, most adequate, or most clear.

Rank	Question

	Do you find the overall visual style of the manuals appealing?

	How adequate do find the margins, line length and amount of 
	white space on each page?

	Do the headings, footings, and tabs clearly mark the topics?


Which type of tabs do you prefer?

Bleed Tabs   			Paper Tabs
(printed on the side of pages)	(extending out from the book)


Which manual format do you find easiest to work with?  Please
mark an X by the one that applies.

   Loose-leaf pages in three-ring binders
   Perfect-bound manuals
   Other; please specify in the following space





Section 7 -- Additional Comments

How familiar are you with new ways of presenting information
(Hypertext, tutorial programs, etc)?  Please rate yourself on a
scale from 1 through 5, with 5 being very familiar.  

Rank	Method


If you are at least moderately familiar with any method, would
you like SCO documentation in this format?  Please place an X by
each method.

Yes	No	Method


Please feel free to comment about any of the following issues:

   + Do you have specific complaints about manuals?

   + How do you use documentation?

   + Under which circumstances you do refer to a manual, a manual
     page, or both?

   + How you would change or expand SCO's current documentation,
     including online help and manual pages?

   + Would you be interested in purchasing optional documentation 
     at a 10% surcharge on the software product price?

   + Would you be interested in obtaining SCO documentation on 
     CD-ROM media?

   + Where do you think SCO should concentrate new documentation 
     projects?

     - On rewriting, debugging, and refining existing documentation?

     - On writing new documentation, covering new ground and reaching
       new depths?

     - On providing new media and access methods, such as CD-ROM,
       Hypertext, or search/retrieval systems?



Is there anything else you'd like to say about SCO documentation?