I like to download the PDF versions of manuals so I can simply find and read them on my iPad. I did just this with the PL4 manual and it’s honestly not a great experience.
I’m sure this would be the last place the team would want to expend effort, but the page breaks are often poorly placed and in at least one case I have spotted so far there are two completely blank pages in the middle of a section (pp 17,18 in the PDF, numbered 13, 14).
This isn’t just a matter of presentation, it makes the content difficult to understand in places particularly where headings and captions detach themselves from what they refer to.
I remember similar problems when PhotoLab 3 was released. I’ve pointed out a few myself. For things like documentation and web site problems, I find that submitting a support request at support.dxo.com gets fast results. This forum is for using the software.
The PDF is generated with no human intervention. It’s obvious that the software used to do this is buggy. The problems that you describe have always been present and will stay there until the software is replaced or fixed.
In the past I have tried to download this PDF and to fix the formatting in my PDF editor. No way. The PDF is generated in such a way that you can’t edit it to give it a more friendly formatting.
I don’t know how (with what software) the original online document is created but if the source is somehow MS Word or Adobe Acrobat compatible, I’m sure that some of us (and I for one) would volunteer to fix all these quirks and to produce a decent PDF (unless the technical writer at DxO decides to fix this her/himself ).
Well, I’m afraid this is a dead-end. The online manual is generated using Proprofs. Proprofs documentation are created with an online, “MS Word"like”, editor. So, the documentation is apparently not created as a standalone local editor but directly online. Proprofs can import a Word document but AFAIK, it can cannot export to the Word format (if I’m wrong, I’d really like to have access to this Word version). The only export choice seems to be PDF but their PDF translation module is really terrible, to say the least. If would be nice if the technical writer in charge at DxO could write the original document in Word and give us access to it while still having the possibility to import it into ProProfs if they insist on using it. I’m using the PDF converter embedded in MS Word and this one works correctly.
However, the base problem is that DxO are considering that every DPL (or Nik) user is always online. This is a wrong idea. Like zkark, for the software I’m using regularly, I use to have the PDF version of the documentation available on my phone or tablet in order to be able to access it even when I’m not online. And I think that we are not alone. After all, nobody is supposed to use DPL only when online. If only DxO could change their approach of the documentation in this direction, I’m sure they would use the right tools to implement it.
I’ve also noticed that if you select the Help / DxO PhotoLab online help F1 menu option in PhotoLab 4 it takes you to an online help manual for PhotoLab 3. I should point out that I tested this using the EA JR version of PhotoLab 4 so it’s possible that the proper release version of PhotoLab 4 has fixed this - perhaps someone with the release version could test and comment.
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