Help Needed On EVTM Features/Format

[Gary Lewis]

Yes, great, saves going back to the index each time. Really makes it easier to go through.

Here's another thought on which I'd like your opinions. I can make the EVTM a pdf document and the whole thing would come up like the 1986 Towing Guide, meaning in one window where you can scroll and search to your heart's content. (Yes, you could search within the doc as I'd OCR it and all the words would be actual words, not pictures of words like they are presently.)

It would be easier for me to do that, which would give me time to make the index entries hyperlinks. And, then I could make references to another page go directly to that page, or maybe even a closeup of the item in question.

With the current approach I can create links to a section, but not a page. So on pages that are buried deep within a section if you follow a link you'll still have to do a lot of scrolling. But, when it is all in one pdf doc it'll take you directly to the page, and if I have that page zoomed in when creating the link it'll take you there zoomed in.

Thoughts? Want to see an example?

[grumpin]

Here's another thought on which I'd like your opinions. I can make the EVTM a pdf document and the whole thing would come up like the 1986 Towing Guide, meaning in one window where you can scroll and search to your heart's content. (Yes, you could search within the doc as I'd OCR it and all the words would be actual words, not pictures of words like they are presently.)

It would be easier for me to do that, which would give me time to make the index entries hyperlinks. And, then I could make references to another page go directly to that page, or maybe even a closeup of the item in question.

With the current approach I can create links to a section, but not a page. So on pages that are buried deep within a section if you follow a link you'll still have to do a lot of scrolling. But, when it is all in one pdf doc it'll take you directly to the page, and if I have that page zoomed in when creating the link it'll take you there zoomed in.

Thoughts? Want to see an example?

That would be great, especially if it's easier for you.

[Dyn Blin]

Here's another thought on which I'd like your opinions. I can make the EVTM a pdf document and the whole thing would come up like the 1986 Towing Guide, meaning in one window where you can scroll and search to your heart's content. (Yes, you could search within the doc as I'd OCR it and all the words would be actual words, not pictures of words like they are presently.)

It would be easier for me to do that, which would give me time to make the index entries hyperlinks. And, then I could make references to another page go directly to that page, or maybe even a closeup of the item in question.

With the current approach I can create links to a section, but not a page. So on pages that are buried deep within a section if you follow a link you'll still have to do a lot of scrolling. But, when it is all in one pdf doc it'll take you directly to the page, and if I have that page zoomed in when creating the link it'll take you there zoomed in.

Thoughts? Want to see an example?

That would be great, and better if it's more efficient for you. 99% of the time a key word or color code is what I'm looking for and that would make it easy to do so.

[Ford F834]

Here's another thought on which I'd like your opinions. I can make the EVTM a pdf document and the whole thing would come up like the 1986 Towing Guide, meaning in one window where you can scroll and search to your heart's content. (Yes, you could search within the doc as I'd OCR it and all the words would be actual words, not pictures of words like they are presently.)

It would be easier for me to do that, which would give me time to make the index entries hyperlinks. And, then I could make references to another page go directly to that page, or maybe even a closeup of the item in question.

With the current approach I can create links to a section, but not a page. So on pages that are buried deep within a section if you follow a link you'll still have to do a lot of scrolling. But, when it is all in one pdf doc it'll take you directly to the page, and if I have that page zoomed in when creating the link it'll take you there zoomed in.

Thoughts? Want to see an example?

Looks like I’m a bit late to the party... but input is still needed so....

I have to say I somewhat prefer the whole PDF. It is more like the user experience of having the tree-ware version in your hands. One may have to do a bit more scrolling and fishing around, but requires less navigation through levels. Of course the way it is on the other EVTM’s is not at all bad, so if you want to maintain continuity then do it that way. I wouldn’t waste too much time creating hot linked menus. It might be convenient, but could become an endless rabbit hole of website building and future maintenance to keep everything the same. The really important thing is to make the information available.

[Gary Lewis]

Looks like I’m a bit late to the party... but input is still needed so....

I have to say I somewhat prefer the whole PDF. It is more like the user experience of having the tree-ware version in your hands. One may have to do a bit more scrolling and fishing around, but requires less navigation through levels. Of course the way it is on the other EVTM’s is not at all bad, so if you want to maintain continuity then do it that way. I wouldn’t waste too much time creating hot linked menus. It might be convenient, but could become an endless rabbit hole of website building and future maintenance to keep everything the same. The really important thing is to make the information available.

You aren't too late. Your input is fitting with what several others said. So, here's the deal:

I finished the 1985 EVTM the normal way, and it is in the normal place of Electrical/EVTM/1985 EVTM. But I haven't gone over it with a fine-toothed comb, so please see what you think and let me know.

But I then OCR'd the first 6 pages of the pdf version of the '85 EVTM, through and including Page 5 Grounds. And, I created a new page here: Electrical/EVTM/1985 EVTM (Test).

And, I did a little bit of the fancy link stuff I was talking about. For instance, in the Index you can see a blue box around the "1" of How To Use This Manual. And there are a few more of those tricks. But, on a web page it doesn't work - at least not for me in Chrome. Strange, because that's how I did the certification label thing, and it works - I think.

So, that tells me that it is a waste of my time to do the tricks - unless I find a way to make them work on a web page. But, you can download the file and those tricks work with something like Acrobat. For instance, download it and click on the "5" on Grounds at the bottom left of the Index page. Then, when it takes you to Grounds on Page 5, click on the "87" in the upper left at the ashtray illumination. But, I could make a career of hot-linking just one EVTM, and there are ways for you to use it w/o that.

In addition, you can search for text on those first few pages. However, for some reason after the first search my browser quit highlighting the text, so it wasn't very helpful.

In any event, creating that was easier than the old way. I still have to OCR the whole thing and do some page cropping and straightening, but I need to hear from you. Do you like this better than the old way? Why? What works for you? What doesn't work? PLEASE let me know.

 

[Ford F834]

Looks like I’m a bit late to the party... but input is still needed so....

I have to say I somewhat prefer the whole PDF. It is more like the user experience of having the tree-ware version in your hands. One may have to do a bit more scrolling and fishing around, but requires less navigation through levels. Of course the way it is on the other EVTM’s is not at all bad, so if you want to maintain continuity then do it that way. I wouldn’t waste too much time creating hot linked menus. It might be convenient, but could become an endless rabbit hole of website building and future maintenance to keep everything the same. The really important thing is to make the information available.

Gary, I’m stuck using my phone for the time being, so I guess I can’t see any of those features in the test version. Sorry. It looks and works just fine though.

[Gary Lewis]

Gary, I’m stuck using my phone for the time being, so I guess I can’t see any of those features in the test version. Sorry. It looks and works just fine though.

Do you like it better than the old way? W/o the features? Search should work.

[Ford F834]

Do you like it better than the old way? W/o the features? Search should work.

The only thing different that I see compared to the old way are the buttons to skip sections. Am I missing something? The only search tool I see on the web page view is the search garagemahal function.

[Gary Lewis]

The only thing different that I see compared to the old way are the buttons to skip sections. Am I missing something? The only search tool I see on the web page view is the search garagemahal function.

The only search functions are part of the web browser - and I don't see them on my phone, just my computer. So the pdf approach isn't going to be very useful since about half of the usage is via a phone.

Oh well, it was an idea, but apparently not a good one. I'll wait until a few more of you let me know what you think, but I'm thinking the other approach is better. With this one, if you are using a computer you can type in the page number you want and it'll take you there. But on a phone there doesn't seem to be a way to type in the page number, so you are left scrolling. And on a 150+ page document that's a huge pain!

A half-way house would be to put the pages for each section in a pdf instead of as jpg's. That way the search function at the top and bottom of each page should find things - but it doesn't. I've not been successful finding things in the documents using either search function, even several days after the document has been put on the site. And since they are supposed to scan daily they should find it.

So, I'm at a loss. Perhaps the original way is the best?

[ctubutis]

The only search functions are part of the web browser - and I don't see them on my phone, just my computer. So the pdf approach isn't going to be very useful since about half of the usage is via a phone.

Oh well, it was an idea, but apparently not a good one. I'll wait until a few more of you let me know what you think, but I'm thinking the other approach is better. With this one, if you are using a computer you can type in the page number you want and it'll take you there. But on a phone there doesn't seem to be a way to type in the page number, so you are left scrolling. And on a 150+ page document that's a huge pain!

A half-way house would be to put the pages for each section in a pdf instead of as jpg's. That way the search function at the top and bottom of each page should find things - but it doesn't. I've not been successful finding things in the documents using either search function, even several days after the document has been put on the site. And since they are supposed to scan daily they should find it.

So, I'm at a loss. Perhaps the original way is the best?

Gary, can you put the Previous & Next buttons right next to each other at both the top & bottom of the pages?

It's ALL tedious and hurts my wrist after a while (why I don't do so much of that anymore).